


Back to Hollywood

by PerkyGoth14



Category: Cats Don't Dance (1997)
Genre: F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-18
Updated: 2016-02-25
Packaged: 2018-05-21 09:03:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 14
Words: 25,855
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6045781
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PerkyGoth14/pseuds/PerkyGoth14
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Darla is having a bad case of nightmares, so the family decides that she needs a vacation. However the Fudos plan to vacation in Hollywood while Darla is suffering from the pain and guilt she had caused Danny and friends and is terrified to confront them, but will she be able to overcome her past or be haunted forever?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

A/N: I've gotten requests for this story up my butt, so far up my butt, it's time to dump it out. I hope you all enjoy this story based on an RP. As always, Read & Review!

Darla was putting something in her closet that was hidden from everyone else.

"Darla, you still awake?" Emily's voice called from behind the door.

"Uh, yeah?" Darla replied, shutting the closet door quickly, then sat on her bed.

"What's wrong?" Emily asked.

"Nothing..." Darla looked away shyly, like she were hiding something. 

"Well, I just wanted to tell you, we're having a family outing the day after tomorrow." Emily told her. 

"Where are we going?" Darla asked.

"It's a secret." Emily smiled.

"If you tell me, I'll act surprised..." Darla smiled innocently.

"Sorry, dear, but that's not how it works in this house..." Emily patted Darla on the head gently. "Trust me, you'll love it."

"Oh, fine." Darla pouted.

"You're a good girl..." Emily hugged Darla comfortably. "Where have you been earlier by the way?"

"Umm... I... I was caught up in something..." Darla covered up. "Sorry, Mama Emily."

"It's alright, dear, so what was with that glowing light by the way?" Emily asked.

"Uhh...." Darla twiddled her baby-like fingers.

"Dear, is there something you're not telling me?" Emily asked. "You know you can tell me anything... My sister's a mermaid and my husband has Wiccan blood in him, I'll believe anything..." she then added the last bit to joke and put Darla in a better and easier mood with an amused smile on her face.

"Me, Atticus, and Patch were sent to the Sailor Moon world." Darla said.

"I see..." Emily felt relaxed now that Darla told the truth. "Now, why wouldn't you tell me?"

"I didn't think you'd believe me or want to..." Darla admitted. "I mean... It was kind of overwhelming..." she then got off her bed and opened her closet to show what she kept away. "I got a new dress."

"That dress looks beautiful." Emily smiled even while noticing a brooch on it.

"Yeah, I like it too." Darla smiled at her little gift after her little Sailor Moon adventure. "Okay, I told you a secret, now it's your turn."

"Nice try..." Emily giggled, patting her head on the head again and kissed her cheek. 

Darla pouted. "Hmph!"

This truly was frustrating for Darla.

"Get some rest, okay, sweetie?" Emily smiled, going out the door.

Darla nodded, then flopped back on her bed as she spent the rest of her time wondering what her new family was going to give her as a surprise during their family outing.

Cherry, Atticus, Patch, and Mo were in the other realm. Skippy had an apple on his head while Cherry was growling and concentrating with a low groan as she had her eyes shut. 

"Is it changing?!" Cherry groaned while she concentrated.

"Nope, it still looks like an apple." Mo said.

Cherry grunted and tried, then sighed in exhaustion. Skippy took the apple off his head and then took a bite of it, chewing it.

"I'm never gonna get this..." Cherry sounded stressed.

"Yes, you are, you just need to concentrate on what you want to turn the apple into." Atticus said.

"I'm trying!" Cherry groaned and whined.

Skippy licked his lips once he finished the juicy red apple.

"Okay, next!" Drell wrote something on his clipboard. "Mo, I want you to turn that weak and defenseless dying sapling into an oak tree." he then said, pointing to the dying and shriveled up plant in the corner that had flies buzzing around it.

"Okay, here goes nothing." Mo said as she began to concentrate and where her medallion started to glow.

The tree continued to wilt and decay. Drell grabbed Skippy and placed the tiny man in front of him like a shield. Skippy frowned to Drell, then looked very nervous. The tree then came to life and became a beautiful oak tree.

"Oooh..." Cherry, Atticus, Patch, and Drell said with awe.

Skippy leaned forward with his eyes wide in awe as well.

Mo smiled. "It's not too much, is it?"

"Not at all." Drell wrote another ntoe down.

"So who's next after me?" Mo asked.

"Okay..." Drell checked his clipboard. "Patch, Atticus, let's see what you got..." he then stepped back with Skippy and pushed a red button which dropped a very heavy car on top of the dog and boy.

Atticus and Patch held the car above them with all their strength and then threw it in the air and then their medallions glowed as they concentrated, turning it into a toy car.

"Heh, nice work, kids!" Drell smirked. "Though I didn't expect the toy car thing, but still, nice effort, you're all doing well with your training..." he then turned to Cherry. "Except for you..."

Cherry sighed as she failed.

"Hey, you'll get it someday..." Drell soothed like an encouraging coach. 

"I'm never gonna get this stupid dream-bending and magic!" Cherry scoffed. "All I can do is pony-up or turn into my Equestrian form."

"I'm sure you'll get the hang of your dream-bending powers." Atticus said.

"It's okay, Cherry, according to our research, your mother's birth father was the last in his class to master his abilities," Drell said, then thought about it a little. "Hey, now that I think about it, so was his grandmother, and her grandfather before, and so on..."

"What's the point of having these powers if this kinda thing just runs in the family?" Cherry scoffed. "No one can understand how I feel since it skips a generation and my mother was adopted and her father refuses to acknowledge her existence!"

"She makes a good point." Patch said.

"Look, I know this whole magic thing is tough, but you can do this..." Drell actually encouraged Cherry to try harder. "If Atticus and Patch can handle the changes of having the strength of a Greek god, then you can handle being a dream-bender... You just have to dig a little deeper."

Cherry glanced at him. "Please don't tell me you're gonna sing."

Drell took out panpipes. "Would you like me to?"

"Drell, I beg you, do anything you want to me, but PLEASE don't sing!" Cherry begged.

"He's gonna sing anyway, isn't he?" Patch asked his owner.

"If it annoys or causes Cherry pain, probably so." Atticus shrugged.

Drell took a deep breath and blew into his instrument.

"Of all the warlocks in the world, why did I have to be HIS plaything!?" Cherry groaned in misfortune.

"Yep, he's gonna sing." Atticus sighed.

"Why me?" Cherry put her hands to her face. "Just why me?"

"I don't know." Atticus shrugged.

Skippy waved his finger and made Drell's voice go away before he could sing. Drell held his throat, then held out his hand and coughed up into it to show a frog. Skippy smiled like a child with a brand new toy, then took the frog and gently pet it. Drell rolled his eyes before trying to sing again. Skippy cooed to the frog.

Cherry ran off, trying to get out of the room before Drell would sing. "Please don't start singing!" she begged. "Please don't start singing!"

"That just makes me wanna sing even more..." Drell smirked as he held her in his arm so she couldn't escape.

"Oh, come on!" Cherry groaned.

Drell chuckled. Cherry groaned as she felt even more unlucky than she already had before. 

One song later...

"Did that help?" Drell asked.

Cherry was lying on the floor with her tongue dangling out and her eyes lolled back into her head.

"Oh, my god, I've killed her!" Drell panicked.

"Check her pulse." Mo said.

Atticus bent down and felt Cherry's pulse. "She's only died of boredom and annoyance..."

Cherry blinked and looked back. "Is he gone yet?"

"Nope." Atticus shook his head.

"Shoot..." Cherry groaned.

"Second verse, worst than the first!" Drell took out his panpipes again.

Cherry screamed out. "MAKE HIM STOP!"

Drell laughed. "I'm just kiddin'..." then looked at his pocket watch. "Whoa snap! It's late at night in the mortal realm, I'm sorry, guys, I forgot how much slower time here was than in your realm, you better all head home."

"Yes, sir." Patch said.

"All right, great progress, everybody," Drell shooed them away. "Go on now, go..."

The others thanked Drell and went back through the other realm door.

Cherry opened the door of her grandmother's closet door which was how they got in. "I'm never gonna impress him with my dream-bending lessons... I'll never be a good dream-bender... Now I know how Sabrina must feel..."

"You'll get it someday." Atticus said.

"Yeah, that's likely..." Cherry said as she came downstairs with them.

Mally hummed in the kitchen and came out with oven mitts on and carried a silver tray with her favorite dessert to make. "Pie?"

"Mm." Patch smiled.

"Grandma, we need to--" Cherry was about to say.

"Oh, come on, Cherry Berry, eat my pie!" Mally insisted. "You and your friends are so thin!"

Cherry sighed. "Okay, we'll have some pie."

"Yeah." Atticus nodded.

Mally smiled and cut up the pie into four slices, but made a very big slice for her granddaughter. "How was Drell?"

"How do you think?" Cherry rolled her eyes. "I swear, he only invites me to come along so he can brutally humiliate me..."

"I'm sure that's not true." Mally smiled.

Cherry rolled her eyes, then kept eating the pie. After eating the pie, Mo, Atticus, and Patch were on their way home. Atticus walked Mo home as he always did from now on and was now on his way back with his puppy.


	2. Chapter 2

Darla shivered in her sleep slightly as she had fallen asleep, anxiously trying to guess her surprise, she saw herself coming back into Hollywood and was seeing the animals she once knew.

"There she is!" Danny pointed. "There's the brat that tried to drown us all!"

"I'm sorry I did that, I really am!" Darla cried out.

"LIES!" Sawyer glared at her. "Go back wherever you came from!"

"No one wants you here, get lost!" Tillie shoved the little girl.

"You never should've come back here." Pudge glared at her.

"Move it, you annoying little twerp!" Cranston pushed Darla. 

"I'm sorry!" Darla cried. "Just leave me alone, I didn't mean it!"

"LIES!" Danny glared.

Darla was holed up in a corner as the goat, two cats, penguin, turtle, fish, and old elephant glared at her and gave her a very evil stink eye. She started to cry as she felt incredibly guilty for what she had done, but no one would hear her forgiveness or cries. After all, she was only a little girl.

"Darla! Darla, wake up!" Atticus's voice called out to her.

"No, leave me alone, I didn't mean to hurt anyone!" Darla cried as she was in her bed and she flailed her arms out.

Patch hopped onto Darla's bed and licked her face.

Darla grunted, but she then woke up. "Guh... Dog slobber!"

"Hey, you weren't waking up, it was the only way I thought to wake you up." Patch said.

"Darla, you were having a nightmare." Atticus said.

"You have no idea..." Darla pouted. 

"You wanna talk about it?" Atticus suggested.

Darla held him for comfort and emotional support. "I was back in Hollywood... Those animals hated me."

"It was only a nightmare, that won't happen, I assure you." Atticus comforted her.

"But you have dreams like those all the time..." Darla frowned.

"They're called visions, but I assure you that the nightmare you had was just that just a nightmare." Atticus said.

Darla wasn't so sure, but she had to admit she felt better since she talked about it, she was only a little girl after all.

"I know it must've been scary, but it was just a dream," Atticus soothed. "Dreams can't hurt you."

"Thanks, Atticus." Darla smiled.

"Of course..." Atticus gave her another hug. "Try to think of good things before you go to sleep, little kids like you always have horrible nightmares, but if you think of good things, you should have a good dream."

"I'll try it..." Darla smiled.

"Good girl..." Atticus smiled to her, then got off of her bed. "Man, you're really exhausted after we visited that Sailor Moon world, huh?"

"Took a lot out of me..." Darla nodded with a small yawn.

"Well, after that kind of adventure, it would tire anyone out." Atticus said.

"Mm-hmm... Night...." Darla said before falling back asleep.

"Good night..." Atticus let her get some sleep, then left the room with his puppy. "Come on, Patch."

Patch nodded and followed after. "I hope she has pleasant dreams." he whispered.

"I hope so too." Atticus whispered back.

And where their hopes came true as the rest of the night was peaceful.

"Thank you for the reservations," Emily said over the phone. "Goodbye..." she then hung up.

"So is everything ready?" Patrick asked.

"Yep, we're all set to leave in the morning for our family outing." Emily nodded.

"Perfect." Patrick smiled.

Emily smiled back and hugged her husband.

"Well, we better get some sleep." Patrick said as he kissed his wife.

Emily nodded in agreement. "it's later than I thought it was..."

The couple then walked to get themselves to bed.

Darla was still having jitters about meeting Danny and his friends again, but she was able to sleep a lot easier after talking with Atticus about her nightmares and where her nightmare turned into a pleasant dream.

Cherry took a visit to her imagination, then wandered into a gray room that had a bunch of doors that had names on the front of them. "Stupid dream-bending... I just don't understand..." she muttered to herself. "No one else can understand what I'm going through! I..." she then looked around. "Where in the world am I?"

"You're in your dream world." Mally said.

"GAH!" Cherry jumped back.

"Oh, sorry," Mally told her granddaughter. "I didn't mean to startle you."

Cherry caught her breath and tried to relax. "This is like the dream dimension Princess Luna travels to."

"Exactly." Mally smiled.

"I don't understand..." Cherry replied.

"Go to the doors... Pick one..." Mally coached. "See what it shows from behind..."

Cherry looked curiously at the doors.

"It'll be worth it." Mally smiled.

"I can't decide..." Cherry rubbed the back of her head before wincing again. She then covered her eyes and went through one door from random and removed her hand, transporting into someone's dream.

She was outside what looked like a very nice house, she poked her head in through the window and saw what looked like a grown up version of Atticus and Mo sitting on a couch and there were twin children, a boy and a girl, who looked like their parents who were sitting on the floor and watching TV together and laughing at something on TV.

"I think I'm in Mo's dream," Cherry guessed. "That little girl looks a lot like her." She then saw another door and where she saw Atticus's face on it.

Mally nodded and encouraged her granddaughter to open it. Cherry then went to Atticus's door and opened it up to see what he was dreaming about.

And where it was the same as Mo's dream, she even saw that he was detective. It was all black and white like in crime drama film noir from the 1920's. Mo was dressed like a dame with a feather boa, a glittering dress, had a beauty mark on her cheek and had on a floppy hat with a fur short coat, heels, and tights. 

"Oh, boy..." Cherry muttered, feeling like this was going to be like those overly dramatic detective films with a tough guy narration.

And where she was right as she heard a man's voice narrating, clearly the voice was Atticus's older version. This made Cherry roll her eyes only slightly.

'She stepped into my office, looking better than a Magnolia in May...' Atticus's narration said in a Cockney accent to fit in with the time period this dream was set in. 'I had to admit, I never seen anyone like her and she was in my life and we were stuck to each other like a bug on fly paper that can never be released.'

"Oh, brother!" Cherry groaned.

Mo walked over to Atticus which signaled saxophone music as she walked like a sultry seductress. 

"Okay, I'm done..." Cherry got out of this dream before she could see anymore. She then saw a doggy door, leading to another dream. She crawled down on her hands and knees and poked her head into see this dream.

There was rich green surroundings with colorful sights. There were two laughs heard, Patch was chasing a certain cocker spaniel puppy.

"I kinda saw that one coming..." Cherry said, everybody knew how Patch really felt about Colette and it seemed to be growing vice versa.

And where this dream seemed to be the simple puppy love dream.

Cherry left the dream. "These dreams are too predictable, I thought this was gonna be cool..."

The next dream she entered inside was another of Atticus's dream, this time, not of the future, but of him as a hero, fighting off bad guys and monsters.

"What... The... Chicken nuggets?" Cherry did not understand what she was watching now. "Didn't I just come out of his door?"

"There are two different dreams, one the one he's having right now which is this one and the one you saw which is the future, except for the narrator and black and white color." Mally explained.

"Is this like when we have one of our adventures and he has a dream about something that's about to happen?" Cherry asked.

"Yes, that's why he has two different doors," Mally explained. "A descendant of his will carry the gene."

"I see..." Cherry thought that made sense now.

"Now this is his actual dream." Mally smiled.

"I see..." Cherry slowly understood.

"I know, dear, the rules are complicated, plus your mother's birth father isn't here to help you understand it better," Mally empathized. "Hopefully once you understand, you can explain it to your grandson or granddaughter."

Cherry scoffed about that future possibility. "Like I'll ever have children..."

"Yes, you will." Mally nodded.

Cherry sighed and looked distant, then noticed Darla's door and looked very curious.

"I would be cautious," Mally advised. "The poor dear's been suffering from the worst nightmares brought on by her guilt from a particular date."

"Which date?" Cherry asked curiously.

Mally paused a moment to think about it. "Friday, April 13th, I'm certain."

"April 13th..." Cherry thought about it, then her eyes widened. "That was when Darla tried to drown us all in her ark and flood the stage and blame Danny and the others to get them kicked out of Hollywood."

"Yeah, but thanks to Atticus, her nightmare has been changed into a dream." Mally smiled.

Cherry looked back at the door. "They won't hold forever though... Some nightmares last a long time..." she then slowly shut her eyes. "I had nightmares about Forte for what feels like my whole life until we all reunited with him and he told us he would never ever try to hurt me again."

"And you haven't had nightmares about him ever since then, right?" Mally asked.

"Not about him, but other nightmares haven't stopped..." Cherry shrugged. "I feel like Darla will still have these negative feelings that influence her imagination and keep her nightmares until she confronts her fear head on like I did with him."

"You are correct." Mally said.

"Somehow Darla has to get to Hollywood..." Cherry said.

"Her adopted family is going to get her there." Mally said.

"How's that?" Cherry asked.

"Trust me, it's a surprise..." Mally replied. "I think you should keep an eye on Darla's door when you're not in your own dream while the family is gone... But keep it a secret... You wouldn't want to freak people out by telling them you can see their dreams in the Dreamscape, they won't understand."

Cherry sighed and rolled her eyes. "It' all part of having this rare ability."

"Yes." Mally said.

"Great..." Cherry banged her head on the wall once.

"Let's just calm down." Mally soothed her.

Cherry groaned, putting her palm to her face, but she didn't go on a frustrated rampage.

"Whew." Mally sighed.

Cherry glanced at her grandmother.

"Your mother was never this difficult..." Mally giggled. "I'm just lucky the Witches Council let me raise her... Your aunt wanted a baby sister, and we couldn't have any more natural children or just magic up a baby... I'm glad we have her though because if we hadn't, we wouldn't have had a lovely granddaughter like you are!"

"I miss Grandpa... Even though I never met him..." Cherry said. "What was he like?"

Mally smiled. "He loved to laugh, he always knew how to have fun, he had a lot of people who loved being around him... He wishes he could've met your father... Rosie told me... You know who Rosie is, don't you?"

"Isn't she a guardian angel?" Cherry asked.

"Exactly." Mally smiled.

"So is Grandpa a guardian angel now?" Cherry asked her grandmother.

"Yes, after your other grandparents died, they decided to become guardian angels to help watch over you on your adventures," Mally explained. "They miss you very much and that's why they appear in your dreams a lot, especially when you're in self conflict. I want you to use this ability to watch over Darlene in her dreams so she isn't consumed by guilt in her own nightmares and put them to rest for good. No one knows what the future will bring, but I'm positive that Darlene will be happier if you help her soothe her nightmares."

"I'll try..." Cherry shrugged. "I'm still a little rusty."

"I know you'll do your best." Mally said.

Cherry was curious of Darla's dream, so she was about to open the little girl's door and opened it as a bright light cast over and she was inside of the little girl's dream. 

Darla was imagining herself as a beautiful adult woman with many admirers and she had her own little girl.

"I guess Darla still wants to be a shining star and have someone to share it with..." Cherry guessed based on her observations since Darla was a grown woman with a little girl of her own.

"This is what she's dreaming of, the future." Mally said.

"I wonder if this will come true." Cherry wondered.

"Again, hard to say..." Mally said to her. "Still, watch after Darlene when she slumbers and you visit the Dreamscape when you sleep on your own. You have a big job to do as the new dream-bender."

"Yes, Grandma." Cherry replied respectively as she watched Darla all grown up shop with her little girl.

"Charge it, please." Adult Darla told the store owners as she held her dream daughter's hand. 

Darla's dream daughter smiled and nodded in agreement.

"Wow, she must really like this dream." Cherry said, she then shut the door to let Darla dream in peace. 

"Now, don't dream-drop," Mally warned her granddaughter. "The Sandman does that sometimes... It's very rude." 

"I think I've heard of that..." Cherry shrugged. "Well, here's hoping Darla's return to Hollywood will be a decent one."

"Don't worry, it will." Mally smiled.

"Let's only hope..." Cherry shrugged.

Darla woke up in the middle of the night, she didn't have another nightmare, but she got out of bed and just remembered she would be on a trip with her new family and decided to tell someone she would never have a way to tell except for this way since he didn't have a phone. She got on her bike and strapped on a coat since she was only in her pajamas and peddled her bike over to the nearest body of water. When she parked, she reached into the basket and took out her conch shell and walked over to the edge of the water and blew into it.

And luckily for her, the one she wanted to talk to answered her call immediately. "Hey, Goldilocks."

"I swear, I'm gonna kill you someday..." Darla muttered that, but then looked to the being she wanted to speak with. "Sorry for waking you up so early..."

Urchin yawned. "That's okay... What's up?"

"I just wanted to tell you I'm going away with the family for a little while," Darla explained. "So, I'll be gone for a while..."

"Thanks for the information." Urchin smiled.

"Of course I had to come and tell you in person." Darla smiled.

"Understood," Urchin nodded. "So, where are you guys going?"

"Apparently it's a surprise..." Darla sighed.

"Well, then it must be something that will make you happy." Urchin smiled.

"Huh... Guess I never thought about it like that..." Darla shrugged with a smile. 

"Um, nice pants." Urchin said then.

"Huh?" Darla looked down, seeing and just remembered she was just in her pajamas, she had on her old pale pink, almost mauve, pajama pants with darker pink hearts on it which made her cover her legs with a sheepish smile. "Whoops!" 

"Ya like pink, huh?" Urchin chuckled.

"Uh-huh." Darla nodded.

"It's okay, but it's not green..." Urchin smirked, rolling his copper eyes slightly.

"Says you..." Darla playfully huffed.

"Have a good trip..." Urchin smiled, then yawned again. "G'night."

"Night, Urchin." Darla nodded to him and decided to go back home to get more sleep.

Urchin smiled and then dived down back to Atlantica. Darla yawned, but she was awake enough to peddle all the way back home. As soon as she parked her bike and chained it up, she took off her coat and went straight back in her nice and warm bed. The next day was surely going to be a surprise for Darla.


	3. Chapter 3

"Thanks for house-sitting, Aunt Beatrice," Emily told Ms. Miller. "It means a lot to us."

"Oh, sure," Ms. Miller smiled back to the now adult woman. "You all have a good time now, things will be just fine until ya get back!"

"Let's just hope the house isn't on fire when she drives the car to run errands..." Patrick mumbled to himself.

"And don't worry, I've got my eyes checked." Ms. Miller assured them.

"Uh-huh..." Patrick muttered still.

Emily shoved her husband slightly, but still smiled to her childhood babysitter. "Thanks again... Um, are the Chipettes coming too or are they on tour with Dave and the Chipmunks?"

"They're coming." Ms. Miller told her.

"Ah, okay, I knew Dave said he would be too busy, so I wasn't sure if the girls had the same schedule or not." Emily smiled.

"Yes, they seemed so insistent on coming too..." Ms. Miller nodded.

The Chipettes were upstairs and telling Darla and Atticus why they decided to come too.

"Ms. Miller needs a lot of help, you know how she is," Eleanor said. "That's why we came over, so your house isn't a wreck by the time you come home!"

"Thanks, girls." Darla said to her new friends.

"Think nothing of it." Brittany said.

"Could I stay in Atticus's room?" Jeanette asked. 

"You wanna stay in a boy's room!?" Brittany gawked at her taller sister.

"He has a lot of great books..." Jeanette defended with a shrug.

"Sure." Atticus smiled.

"Hope you guys have fun," Eleanor smiled, then shrugged. "Wherever you're going."

Atticus whispered to the Chipettes of where they were going, but told them to keep it a secret from Darla. Darla tried to listen in, but she was still left behind the black as she was not told of where the surprise trip was. Brittany looked jealous while Eleanor and Jeanette gave encouraging smiles. 

"It's not fair!" the auburn Chipette snapped. "I wanted to go to--"

Jeanette and Eleanor covered their sister's mouth.

"Have fun." Jeanette grinned.

"Yeah, loads and loads of fun!" Eleanor added.

"We sure will," Patch smiled. "Oh, and Jeantte, we packed the weights with us, so then you can read the books with no problems in the way."

"Thanks." Jeanette sounded very relieved to hear that due to how clumsy she was.

"No problem." Atticus smiled.

"You kids ready up there!?" Emily called up. "Your father's about done loading up the car!"

"We're ready!" Atticus called down.

"Come outside and give your father your bags!" Emily said.

"Okay!" Darla called back, then looked to the Chipettes. "Excuse us a bit."

"Mine and Patch's bags might be a little too heavy for Dad, Mom!" Atticus called as he carried his bag and Patch's bag.

"Well, help him out, would you!?" Emily called. "I'm making snacks in the kitchen!"

"Have you all gone deaf or somethin'?" Ms. Miller muttered. "There's always yellin' in this house... Emily, I raised you better than that!"

"Sorry, Aunt Beatrice..." Emily rolled her eyes slightly.

"WHAT!?" Ms. Miller then called.

"I knew that was gonna happen..." Emily muttered to herself.

"I'll help Dad with our bags, Mom, especially with the ones with weights in them." Atticus assured her.

"I know you will." Emily smiled as she packed her picnic basket. "Last calls for bathroom breaks!"

"I don't need to go!" Patrick, Jessica, Darla, and Atticus called out.

"I do!" Patch called out before running to the closest tree.

Emily came to the car and set the picnic basket just right as everything else was almost ready to go.

"Run along now, Patch," Jessica warned. "Don't want you to get left behind, now do we?"

Patch did his business on a tree and where it didn't take long and then went back to the family after doing his business.

"Okay, I think we're set..." Emily said, then took out a tiny handheld album of CD's. "Anyone have a preference on what we listen to?"

"I don't know." Patch said.

The Fudo family got into the car.

Darla sat in the middle in a comfortable car seat, she still kind of needed one since she was rather small for her age. "I'm so excited, but please tell me where we're going..." she begged.

"Should we?" Patch asked.

"We can't..." Atticus reminded. "It's a surprise."

Patch pouted, he wanted to tell Darla as much as she wanted to know where they were going.

"Wake me..." Jessica was going to sleep the trip away.

Patrick started the car and then started to drive the car.

"Goodbye, house!" Emily waved playfully to their home.

The family waved goodbye to Ms. Miller and the Chipettes as they backed up and were now driving to their family vacation.

"I'm so excited!" Darla smiled.

Emily smiled, she then put in the CD from Shrek the Musical to occupy the trip until Darla would fall asleep and then she would put on music that she and Patrick would prefer to listen to. As soon as Darla fell asleep, Emily switched it to a romantic song.

Patrick smiled to Emily. "This our song?"

"What do you think?" Emily giggled.

"Yep, this is our song, I remember it quite well." Patrick smiled.

Emily smiled and leaned against him. Patrick smiled at his wife and then put his focus back on the road. Emily eventually fell asleep herself.

Cherry was at home to herself, she was getting a bit bored, so she decided to take a nap. However, she didn't arrive in a mindless dream and came through the Dreamscape.

"Guess I got work to do..." Cherry muttered to herself. She began to make her way to different doors. She saw a paper posted onto the way before she got to the doors. "'Cherry, I decided to let someone help you in this situation that can probably help you relate a little more to it than I can, - Grandma Mally'." she then shut her eyes and put her hands together. "Please be Teller, please be Teller, please be--"

"Hey, Cherry." Teller smiled.

Cherry did a 'yes' position, then tried to look casual towards him. "Hey, what a surprise."

"Is it?" Teller narrowed his eyes with a smirk.

"Okay, not really..." Cherry pouted.

"Yeah, your grandmother told me you'd might need my help." Teller smiled.

"Yeah, I guess... DIdn't you say you studied the dream enigma when you were a high school teacher?" Cherry asked.

Teller looked shocked.

"What?" Cherry asked.

"I told you something and you listened to me!" Teller smirked, folding his arms. "Usually you just daydream or drool in my presence."

"I do not!" Cherry glanced.

"You do so." Teller smirked.

"I don't drool..." Cherry said, suddenly wiping her mouth.

"Whatever." Teller said.

"You're a whatever..." Cherry mumbled.

"Let's check on those dreams, shall we?" Teller walked ahead.

Cherry followed behind him.

Meanwhile, back with the Fudo family...

The family weakly and lazily woke up when Patrick stopped at a gas station.

"Gotta fill it up." Patrick said.

Darla, Atticus, and Jessica got out of the car and took deep stretches once they got out for fresh air. 

Patch joined up with them. "How much longer?" the puppy asked.

"Just another hour." Emily said as she was going inside the shop to use the restroom.

"Whew." Patch sighed.

"Oh, Mama Emily, wait for me!" Darla called.

"Okay, dear." Emily turned with a smile, she then walked over to Darla, took her hand and walked into the bathroom with her.

"I can't wait to get there." Patch said.

"Yeah, it'll be a lot of fun..." Jessica said as she did cheerleader stretches.

"I'm sure everyone's forgiven her for what she did." Atticus said.

"She won't believe it until she sees it though." Jessica said. 

"Yeah..." Atticus agreed. "I'm sure this surprise will be good for her."

Darla came out of the bathroom stall first and helped herself up to the sink to wash her hands after finishing her business. 

A woman came up next to her, then glanced down at the girl. 'That child seems familiar...' she thought to herself.

"Oh, hello, ma'am." Darla said with a curtsy.

"Hello there, sweetheart..." the woman greeted.

"Lovely day, isn't it?" Darla smiled after she had dried her hands.

"It really is." The woman smiled.

Darla nodded.

"So, where are you headed to?" the woman asked.

"It's a surprise..." Darla shrugged. "I just hope wherever we go, it's fun."

"Oh, trust me, dear, this surprise is a good surprise." Emily smiled.

Darla smiled and hugged her adoptive mother.

"Is she yours?" the woman asked.

"Pretty much," Emily said as she hugged Darla back. 

"How old is she then?" the woman asked.

"She's seven, but not for long." Emily giggled.

"Well, she sure is adorable." the woman smiled.

"That's my girl." Emily smiled.

"You look familiar, sweetie..." the woman said. "What's your name?"

"D-Darla..." the blonde girl replied. "Darla Fudo."

"Wait... Darla... Blonde curls..." the woman recognized the girl now. "You're that little girl who flooded a stage!"

Darla's stomach turned.

"I'd watch out for her if I were you," the woman warned Emily. "This child is a menace!"

"No, I'm not!" Darla had tears in her eyes now.

"Listen, she was once like that in the past, but she's changed since then." Emily said.

"I'll believe that when I see it..." the woman glared to Darla and stormed off.

Darla hung her head sadly.

"Don't you listen to her, sweetie." Emily soothed her adopted daughter.

Darla sighed. Emily took Darla out of the restroom and decided to buy Darla a treat to make her feel better.

"I better stay out here." Darla frowned.

Emily was looking at the various sweet eats there were to choose from.

"Looking for anything specific, ma'am?" the clerk asked from behind his desk.

"Just something for a sweet and adorable little angel." Emily smiled.

"I think I might know just what you're looking for." The clerk smiled.

Emily looked curious. "Nothing too sweet now, but still just sweet enough."

"Oh, it is..." the clerk promised as he turned his head to pick out the treat.

Emily smiled as she waited so she could give the treat to cheer up her new daughter. The store clerk came back with the perfect sweets for a little girl.

"Thank you, oh-so, much." Emily smiled.

"Consider it on the house." the clerk offered.

"Oh, but sir..." Emily said.

"I insist." the clerk told her.

"Well, thank you," Emily smiled as she left the store. "Thank you very much!"

"You're quite welcome." The clerk said.

Emily smiled, then came out and sat back in the passenger seat, keeping the treats in her lap for now until Darla would return to the car. And where she wouldn't have to wait long as Darla, Atticus, Jessica, Patch, and Patrick returned to the car. Atticus held the door open so his sisters could get inside first.

Jessica helped Darla up to her car-seat. "Whoopsie daisy!"

Darla didn't even giggle or react to that, she just stared at her feet as Atticus and Jessica sat next to her on the other sides and shut the doors behind them.

"You okay, Darla?" Atticus asked.

"I don't know..." Darla sighed.

"Well, hopefully this can cheer you up..." Emily said with an assuring smile and handed out the goody bag to Darla. "This is for you!"

"Thank you, Mama Emily!" Darla smiled.

Emily beamed. "You're welcome, darling, don't eat too many of those though."

Darla smiled and she took out a few of the treats and ate them. Patrick started the car again and drove them away from the gas station to continue their little road trip.

"This is so exciting." Darla smiled while eating her treats.

"Are you sure this won't keep her awake until we actually get there?" Patrick asked.

"Don't worry, there's not a whole lot of sugar in the treats, she should be settled." Emily said in a hushed tone.

"Ohh." Patrick smiled.

They kept driving, after about ten to fifteen minutes, Darla tuckered herself out, she did not eat all of the treats, but the long ride made her drowsy.

"Looks like the long ride is making someone sleepy." Emily smiled.

"Ah, kids," Patrick chuckled. "They always never wanna go to bed, but when you're an adult, that's the first thing you wanna do."

"Agreed." Emily smiled.

Patrick chuckled to his wife. "Oh, I love you, dear..."

"I love you too..." Emily cooed.

The two shared a quick kiss to each other. After about thirty minutes, they had finally arrived at their destination. 

"Darla, honey..." Emily called gently and soothingly in the only way a mother could. "Wake up, dear... We're here..."

Darla yawned and rubbed her eyes. "I feel like I've been in this car forever... Where are we then?"

"Why don't you take a look yourself?" Patrick prompted with a smile.

Darla leaned forward and gasped once she saw the 'Hollywood' logo. Her worst fears had just been realized. "We're in Hollywood again!?" she gasped, slightly worriedly.

"Surprise!" the Fudo family smiled.


	4. Chapter 4

"Wh-What...?" Darla asked.

"We're in Hollywood," Jessica smiled. "This is our surprise to you."

"T-T-To me...?" Darla felt overwhelmed. "No... I-I can't be here..."

"Don't worry, nothing bad is going to happen." Atticus said.

"I... I just... I just can't be back here..." Darla bit her nails nervously.

"Darla, you said you wanted to come back to Hollywood someday, well, now's your chance..." Patch encouraged.

"N-No, i-i-it's too sudden..." Darla's face paled. "Ooh, I don't feel so well... Can we go back?"

"We'll do no such thing, now come alone, we should get to our hotel and I think we'll have a lunch break before we get settled in for the night." Patrick advised.

"D-Do you think we'll see any of the animals?" Darla asked.

"Darla, everything is going to be okay..." Jessica hugged her adoptive younger sister. "We know you're sorry for what you did, we all forgive you, but you should really face your past that way it can be put behind you and you never have to worry."

"I don't know..." Darla glumly said.

"If you don't face your past soon, you'll never be able to put it behind you." Atticus said.

"I know..." Darla sighed. "I just don't wanna face them alone..."

Jessica frowned, she then put on a brave face. "You won't be alone..."

Atticus saw where this was going. "We'll help you every step of the way and do what we can."

Darla felt very touched that they would help her, they all treated her like family and the feeling was mutual. "You guys..." she whispered very thankfully. "I-I don't know what I'd do without you."

"Luckily, you'll never have to figure that out." Patch smiled.

Darla even hugged him too since he was family.

The Fudo family went to their hotel, there was a suite for Patrick and Emily to sleep in since they were a couple and there was a pull out bed in a couch with two beds in the other part of the room.

"This is the best that we could get you and your family, Mr. and Mrs. Fudo." The concierge said.

"That's okay, sir, thank you." Patrick said once they looked at the room.

"It's a pretty nice room for what it is, it's no penthouse, but it's still the nicest we've ever been in." Emily added.

"I wish I lived in a hotel..." Darla said as she flopped back on the couch.

"This beats sleeping no where." Patch smiled.

"Yeah..." Jessica said.

"How about we get settled in and then you guys can go get something to eat at that place Pinky's?" Emily suggested. "Daddy and I need a nap..."

"Okay..." Darla said softly to her parents.

"Here's about $50, it should be enough for all of you to get whatever you need." Patrick handed the money to Jessica since she was the oldest.

"Thanks, Dad." Jessica, Atticus, and Darla smiled.

"We'd love to go with you all, but we're exhausted from all that driving." Emily said.

"Come back in maybe a couple of hours?" Patrick suggested.

"Don't worry, Dad, I'll watch 'em," Jessica promised. "Wanna come, Patch?"

"You know it." Patch smiled.

"Okay, you kids have fun now." Emily smiled sleepily. 

"Oh, and don't forget your key." Patrick quickly added.

The kids were then now on their way over to Pinky's Diner to get themselves some lunch and decided to walk so they could see the lovely and glorious sights that Hollywood had to offer.

"Oh, and if anyone gives you a hard time, Darla, they'll have to answer to us." Atticus and Patch said.

"Thanks, guys..." Darla replied, thankful again.

"Oh, Atticus, you've really become a great big brother..." Jessica smiled. "I'll try to help too, kiddo."

Darla smiled as she stayed close to Jessica.

"Alright, so which way to Pinky's Diner?" Patch asked.

"I think I remember the way..." Atticus tried to remember. "Let's try this way..." he then walked one way.

Meanwhile, inside the diner, there were two cats who were with an elephant, fish, turtle, hippo, and a goat. They were all laughing and sharing another story with each other. One of them recognized Atticus and smiled.

"Is that who I think it is?" the white cat asked. "Atticus?"

"Sawyer?" Atticus said back.

The other animals then realized who it was and they all then smiled.

"Say, can't say we've seen your face around these parts for a while now." Danny chuckled.

"What brings you back here?" Cranston asked.

"Well, me and my family are here for my adopted little sister's surprise." Atticus smiled.

"Your family adopted a little girl?" Tillie asked. "Oh, that sounds so sweet!"

"Children should be seen and not heard though..." Frances dryly responded.

TW glanced at the grumpy fish, but gave a friendly look to Atticus. "Well, I did get a fortune that said there was going to be a big surprise today for all of us."

"So who's the lucky little girl?" Tillie asked.

Jessica came to Atticus's side. "Oh, hi... I'm Atticus's sister, Jessica."

"Is she the adopted one?" Sawyer asked.

"No, our little sister was right behind me," Jessica turned around. "Come on in, don't be shy... No one's gonna hurt you..." she said in a promising and relaxing tone of voice like a mother would.

Darla hesitated at first, but she came in and stood between her older brother and sister to show herself. 

The animals looked to the little girl. Those ocean blue eyes, that curly golden blonde hair, that size, that shape, those pink clothes... It took them awhile to put together since Darla wore her hair short now, but they now realized and recognized who she was. "DARLA DIMPLE!"

"Heh... Hi, everyone." Darla smiled nervously.

"Is there a problem?" Patch asked as soon as he came over.

"Well, you got a lot of nerve to show your face around here!" Sawyer glared her hazel eyes at the little girl.

The animals all looked very angry with Darla, they never forgot what she did, they never got over it. That may had been a while ago now, but they never got over it. However, the only animal who wasn't bashing at Darla or anything, was Danny.

"Guys, stop." Danny told his friends.

"What?!" Cranston asked. "Why?!"

Darla buried her face to the front of Jessica's tank top.

"Danny, you remember what happened." Tillie reminded.

"I do, but she's just a little girl," Danny told them. "Atticus, has Darla given you any trouble since your family adopted her?"

"No, not once, she's been a wonderful little sister, she even has a best friend." Atticus smiled at the little blonde girl.

Darla was still a little emotionally wrecked over seeing the animals in person again.

"How do you know she isn't trying to trick you?" TW asked, slightly shaking in his shell.

"She wouldn't do that..." Atticus said. "Just give her a chance..."

Darla hid her face as she sniffled.

"Well, she does seem to be actually crying." Tillie said.

"She probably learned how from acting classes..." Cranston mumbled.

"She's not acting." Atticus glared.

"Hmm..." Cranston mumbled.

"Um..." Danny walked over, ignoring his friends' protests. "Could I talk with Darla alone please?"

Darla looked up to him, very curiously. The animals looked at Danny curiously as well.

"If I may?" Danny prompted.

Darla looked up to Atticus and Jessica.

"It's okay, Darla, Danny's just going to talk to you." Atticus assured her.

Darla took a deep shaky breath.

"Come on," Danny gave a small smile. "I won't hurt you."

Darla nodded once to him, Danny was more harmless and gentle compared to the other animals she remembered around these parts. Then again, he was from Kokomo.

'He seems trustworthy.' Patch thought with a smile.

"I'm sure it'll be okay..." Jessica gave an encouraging smile tp her little sister.

Darla took her for it and decided to go with Danny to talk in private. Danny's friends were very angry and confused, but Sawyer looked concerned. Being his girlfriend, Sawyer was more of on Danny's side than the others and had been ever since they first started to fall in love with each other. 

As soon as Darla and Danny were in private, the orange cat decided to find out if Darla was really sincere or not.

"Okay, Darla," Danny said once they were alone and could talk just between the two of them. "So, what brings you to Hollywood?"

"Atticus's family decided to surprise me for our family outing this time..." Darla said, very softly. "I kinda didn't wanna come here... I knew you all would still be mad at me..."

"Why are you with Atticus's family anyway?" Danny asked, curiously. "Why aren't you with your own family?"

Darla looked up and sadly sighed. "I'm an orphan."

"Oh, my... I'm so sorry to hear that." Danny frowned.

Darla looked down to her feet.

"I never knew you were an orphan..." Danny said. "Um... Did Mr. Mammoth know?"

"He adopted me," Darla explained. "He came to the orphanage one day looking for a child to represent... Someone who would be sweet, cute, and adorable to earn more visitors to Hollywood... Me."

"Wait, so then, your first film was really about when you were adopted?" Danny asked.

"Mm-hmm..." Darla nodded. "That movie's true..."

"Wow..." Danny said. "If he adopted you, why didn't he live in your mansion with you and only give you Max as a guardian and protector?"

Darla shrugged. "Busy, I guess.... He's not as nice as he seems... He was rather rude and pushy, he might've adopted me, but he's never really been much of a father, he treated me more like one of his employees than his daughter or whatever..."

"So then when your true colors were shown, did he abandon you?" Danny asked.

"Uh-huh..." Darla said. "After you guys left and you were gonna be movie stars, he punished me by making me become a janitor and stripped me of my fame and fortune."

"A janitor?" Danny cringed. "That seems harsh to do to a little girl. Why did you even flood the stage in the first place?"

"I did it for the attention and I was wrong to chastise you guys for stealing my spotlight," Darla folded her arms. "I never had any friends or family before and I blinded myself into finally becoming one of a kind instead of a bullying victim in an orphanage with no one to go to or talk to about my problems... The fame made me crazy! I thought I was happy, but I was just miserable on the inside."

"So when did you get adopted by Atticus's family?" Danny asked.

"Right after the premiere of Li'l Ark Angel," Darla explained. "Cherry and Atticus actually helped me and when I told them I was an orphan, Atticus's family adopted me and I've lived with them ever since."

"That was nice of them." Danny smiled.

"Yeah..." Darla said softly.

"You okay?" Danny frowned.

"I just never thought I'd see you all again and admit that to one of you..." Darla rubbed her arm.

"Well, I'm glad that you told me." Danny smiled.

Darla halfway smiled back to him.

"Feels good to get it off your chest, doesn't it?" Danny put his arm around the girl.

"Yeah, it actually kinda does..." Darla smiled to the orange tabby.

"So should we get back to the others?" Danny asked.

"I suppose so..." Darla said softly.

"It'll be okay, come along." Danny said in a gentle tone, then came inside the diner with the former child starlet.


	5. Chapter 5

"I'm still surprised that they allow animals inside a diner." Patch smiled.

"I'm just surprised to share a room with animals like those..." Jessica said, referring to Danny's friends besides Sawyer since she was also a cat.

"So Atticus, how much money did that dog tag cost you?" Sawyer asked once she noticed how bright Patch's dog tag was.

"Huh?" Atticus looked down. "Oh, funny story about that..."

"Ooh!" Patch got excited. "Can I tell it, Atticus? Please, please, please!?"

Atticus laughed. "Okay, okay... Go ahead."

"Wahoo!" Patch cheered.

Atticus laughed.

"I guess this is quite the story, huh?" Tillie smiled.

Patch nodded as he began to tell them all the story about how he got the dog tag and how he became a member of the Pound Puppies. The other animals listened, curiously and wondrously as the puppy told them about his first real adventure, yes, he had another one with his biological family and another one that started his friendship with Atticus, but he considered this one his first real adventure because it was all about him and other dogs. Atticus smiled, then took a look at the menu, hoping to find something great.

"And that's what happened." Patch smiled.

"So, how did you get strong enough to do that?" Frances asked.

"Atticus gave me strength," Patch explained. "I would never hurt someone innocent with it though, Vendella just tricked me... In a way, I'm kinda glad she did, because I wouldn't have met the Pound Puppies, especially Lucky if I didn't run away from home."

"Well, we're happy for you." Tillie smiled.

Patch smiled proudly. Darla and Danny came back inside. Sawyer looked a little anxious right now, not because of Darla, but she had something else on her mind.

"So Sawyer, how's everything been with you and Danny?" Atticus asked with a smile.

"Oh, we're just fine, thank you," Sawyer smiled. "We got married."

"Really?" Atticus smiled. "That's nice... Um, are you okay? You look worried."

"I'm just worried about Sally..." Sawyer said, then realized she should explain. "Sally's our daughter... She was lost in the alley one night and she had no one to take care of her, so we took her in."

"Wow, a lot has happened since me and Cherry have been here." Atticus smiled.

"Yeah..." Sawyer smiled. "I guess we should thank you..."

"Why are ya thankin' him for!?" Cranston grew grumpy again. "He adopted that little brat who got what she deserved!"

"Cranston, stop it." Sawyer narrowed her eyes, she felt a little bit of the same way, but since Danny believe in Darla, she almost did too.

"Darla's changed since that day." Atticus said.

"I still think she's fakin' it..." Cranston mumbled.

"She is not faking it." Atticus said.

"If you say so..." Cranston mumbled.

Darla came back over to Atticus and Jessica.

"You okay, honey?" Jessica asked.

"Not as bad as earlier," Darla actually smiled. "I guess talking about it helped."

"Talking about what?" Tillie asked.

Darla glanced to the hippo.

"What, too good to talk to me?" Tillie folded her arms.

"Uhh..." Darla stared at the table.

"Now, now, let her breathe." Danny told his friends once he came over to rejoin them at their table.

"No, it's just too personal." Darla said.

A waiter came by, asking Atticus, Jessica, and Darla for their orders. Each of them told the waiter their orders. The waiter nodded, copying down what they said and went to the kitchen to grant their food wishes. Darla stared out the window as she saw the sights of her former home, not really saying anything.

"So, um, Darla, what have you been up to?" Sawyer asked, trying to make small talk.

Darla looked back. "I go to school now."

"Really?" All the animals, except for Patch, asked, surprised.

"Mm-hmm..." Darla nodded once.

"You ever go to school before?" Frances asked.

"I never got an education until then," Darla explained. "I could read and write all right, but LB never got me a tutor or anything like that..."

"Wow." The animals said out of shock.

"I guess so.." Darla shrugged. "I've made a best friend named Amber too."

"What'd you make her out of?" Frances scoffed.

Darla gave a silent, slightly aggravated glance.

"Oh, wait, you actually met a girl named Amber?" Frances asked.

Darla glanced at the smoking fish again. "Yeah..."

"Well, that's nice," Danny smiled. "What's she like? Are you in the same class?"

"Does she even exist?" Cranston muttered.

"Yes, she does." Darla said.

"Prove it then." Crnaston glared.

Darla glared back. "Stop picking on me, you grouchy goat!"

"Wait, Darla, do you still have Amber's phone number?" Atticus asked.

"In that little phone book Mama Emily gave me." Darla said.

"Atticus, it's okay, we know she's telling the truth." Jessica said to her brother.

"I know." Atticus said.

"Let's just change the subject..." Darla murmured.

The humans and animals all got their food and it was quiet for what felt like a rather long time.

"Did you hear about that actress?" Danny started a new topic after sipping down his glass of milk.

"Yeah, I hear she's trying to sabotage everyone, kinda reminds me of someone..." TW said, hiding a glance over to the blonde girl.

"Did we forget to mention that Atticus is a whole lot stronger than he was when you guys first met him?" Patch asked.

"How so?" Sawyer asked.

"Uhh... Let's wait until after we're done eatin' and I'll show ya guys." Atticus said, he wanted to lift the table, but they were still eating and that would make a mess that the people of the diner would not appreciate.

"I'll believe it when I see it..." Cranston muttered, being an old grump as always.

Darla still was silent.

"Uh, Danny, how's Pudge been?" Atticus asked since the little penguin wasn't in the diner.

"Oh, he's been great, he's with his girlfriend." Danny said.

"Oh, Pudge has a girlfriend?" Atticus smiled. "That's sweet..."

"It's adorable for sure." Tillie giggled.

"When did Pudge get a girlfriend?" Darla asked, interested.

"They've known each other back in Pudge's old home," Sawyer replied. "Before he came here in the big city I mean. She decided to come visit and surprise him and they kinda fell in love with each other."

"Awww!" Darla smiled.

The other animals were slowly warming up to Darla, but of course, Cranston was just being a grumpy gus.

"So, um, where's that mammoth friend of yours?" Darla then asked.

"Woolie's an elephant." Sawyer corrected.

"Uh, yeah, elephant, whatever... Where is he?" Darla replied.

"He's been busy these days with his music." Sawyer said.

"Oh, I see..." Darla said.

"Yeah, he's great with his piano," Danny smiled. "And of course, Sawyer's singing really shines even brighter with it... Not that she had a lovely voice without the music..."

Sawyer blushed under her fur to that.

"Whew!" Tillie leaned back against her chair slightly. "I'm stuffed!"

"Same here." Cranston said.

"If I eat anymore, I'm gonna need a new house." TW attempted to joke.

"You get enough, kiddo?" Jessica asked her little sister.

"Yeah, thank you." Darla smiled.

"Is now a good time?" Patch asked.

"Yeah, let's go." Atticus agreed. "You guys coming outside."

"Give us a minute, we'll be right out." Sawyer smiled.

The Fudo siblings left the diner and waited outside with Patch.

"They are going to be really surprised." Patch smiled.

"They sure are..." Jessica smiled proudly to Atticus.

"I wonder who that actress is they keep talking about..." Darla muttered to herself.

Patch overheard that. "I'm sure it's nothing to worry about..."

Darla hummed, but she tried to remain optimistic once she felt good about this trip again.

After a while, all of the animals came out of the diner.

"Sorry about that, but there is a rather big amount of us." Sawyer said.

"No problem," Darla said. "Okay, Atticus, show them what you can do."

"This better be worth it..." Cranston yawned.

"Oh, lighten up, will you?" Frances glared at the goat.

Atticus cracked his fingers and went up to the diner and lifted it up with just one finger. The animals were indeed wowed and amazed. While they were being watched in secret, there was a woman who seemed to be hiding.

She had shoulder length blonde hair and wore a floppy hat with sunglasses, and had on a coat with gloves on and had on short-heels. She took out binoculars and eyeballed the little blonde girl with the group. "There you are, you little brat..." she muttered quietly as she seemed to spy on the visiting family.

Darla had the sneaky feeling that she was being watched.

"Wow, how did you get stronger?" Frances asked.

"A strong warlock named Drell trained him." Patch smiled.

"A warlock?" the animals then asked.

"Guy witch." Jessica said to them.

"I thought that was a wizard?" Danny scratched his head.

"Witches and wizards are actually really different from each other." Jessica explained.

Atticus then put the diner back down before anyone would freak out and panic, then patted his hands together. "Long story, but yeah.'

"This guy must be a great trainer." Sawyer said.

"Yeah, you don't wanna mess with him..." Atticus warned slightly with a small chuckle.

Darla looked around, feeling she was being watched. The animals applauded Atticus.

"Darla, what wrong?" Jessica asked after noticing the blonde girl was looking around.

"I feel like someone's watching me..." Darla admitted.

"That's probably just nerves..." Jessica coaxed.

"I dunno..." Darla shrugged.

"I'm sure that it's nothing." Patch said.

"Maybe..." Darla held her hands together.

"Come on, we should probably get back to the hotel," Jessica suggested. "Just let Mom and Dad we're okay and got our lunch."

"You're right." Atticus said.

"This'll be like old times, but with new faces, see ya guys around town." Danny waved.

Everybody said goodbye as the Fudo kids returned to the hotel.

"I wonder how soon we'll see them again." Patch said.

"I'm sure we will," Atticus said. "They all became movie stars after we left Hollywood. Oh, I'm sorry, Darla."

"No, no, no, it's okay, I'm happy for them..." Darla said. "Though, there is someone around here I'm still kinda mad at..."

"Oh, and Darla?" Danny stopped them for just a moment. "I'm sorry."

Darla looked back. "What for?"

"Remember when we first met at your movie shooting and I stole your moment?" Danny prompted.

Darla thought about it, it was during the movie's song and Danny cut in and showboated so he could become a movie star like he had dreamed of despite being a cat. "Oh, that? I nearly forgot all about that..."

"I'm sorry, that was wrong of me to do," Danny continued his apology. "You were kinda right to yell at me... I was being a little rude, I guess I got too excited."

"Yeah, the spotlight does that to people." Darla let out a weak chuckle.

"About how many?" Patch asked.

"Nine out of ten." Darla said like a counter.

Danny waved and continued to go with Sawyer.

"Anyway, who's the one person you're still mad at in this town?" Jessica prompted.

"The man who started it all..." Darla sighed. "LB Mammoth..."

"And you've got a right to be angry with him." Atticus said.

"I wonder if he's even still around here..." Darla looked like she wanted to have a word with the movie producing man himself.

"Maybe." Atticus shrugged.

The three went back to the hotel.

"That's right..." the spying blonde woman from earlier stayed hidden. "Go to your family... At least they love you..."

Patrick and Emily were awake now and had finished mostly unpacking for their vacation.

"Well, looks like we're almost finished." Patrick said.

"We'll let Atticus and Patch get their stuff out," Emily giggled. "I love you too much to throw your back out trying get their bags."

"Oh, come on, their bags can't be that heavy." Patrick chuckled before going over to their son's and the Dalmatian's bags.

Emily sighed to herself. "This can't end well..."

Patrick bent down and began to try to lift up the bags, but seemed to be having trouble lifting them up. Emily gave her husband a look.

"Maybe I should let the boys do this." Patrick smiled sheepishly.

"Yeah, I think you should." Emily smirked.

As if on cue, Atticus, Jessica, Patch, and Darla came in, seeing Patrick trying to lift the bags up.

"Would like some extra strength, Dad?" Atticus asked. "Because I can make that happen."

Patrick laughed. "Anything that gets these bags unpacked and doesn't make me have to make visits to the chiropractor."

"Okay then, Dad, give me your right arm." Atticus said.

"Sure..." Patrick said, he did a quick stretch so he wouldn't get a cramp, then walked over to his only son and held out his arm. "I swear, from the day you were born, this is something I never would imagine have happening."

"Alright, then, here we go." Atticus said. He then began grabbed his father's right arm and squeezed it a little so he wouldn't hurt him, but then would squeeze harder as his father's muscles would get bigger as his strength would increase.

Everybody, except for Patch of course, reacted in slight shock.

Patrick felt very different as he was now as strong as his son and laughed in victory. "With these new muscles, I can now take on anyone!"

"Yep, how's about a test of that new strength?" Atticus asked with a smile.

Patrick knew exactly which bags he would use his new strength on.

"Ooh, boy..." Emily sighed. "Jessica, Darla, if you have any sons, please don't make them wrestle or fight... I think their Uncle Atticus might cause a lot of chaos during a visit."

"Oh, Mom, I'm sure that Atticus won't cause any chaos." Jessica assured her mother.

Patrick went back to Atticus's and Patch's bags and bent down and grabbed them and lifted them up with his new strength.

"Males..." Emily said to herself.

"How's that, Dad?" Atticus asked.

"Great!" Patrick smiled. "I feel like I'm sixteen again! I was pretty strong for my age."

"Awesome!" Patch smiled.

Patrick began to unpack the rest of the bags without any problems.

Darla looked out the window.

"So, how was the diner?" Emily asked.

"It was nice, we met the animals," Jessica said. "So far, one of them seems to forgive Darla... I'm sure the others will warm up though."

"Well, things take time." Emily said.

"I was sure Danny would be understanding if no one else did." Atticus said.

Darla felt a strange disturbance, then went to the door. "Uh, I'm gonna go for a walk."

"I'll go with you." Patch came to her side.

"I kinda wanna be alone... I'll have my phone..." Darla insisted, going ahead outside again.

The family looked concerned about Darla going outside all by herself, but they let her go to hopefully clear her head. It didn't take Patrick long for him to unpack all of Atticus's and Patch's bags.

"Thanks, Dad." Atticus smiled.

"Anything for my favorite son." Patrick smiled back.

"I'm your only son." Atticus smirked playfully.

"Still my favorite." Patrick laughed.

Jessica and Emily smiled to this, then shared a hug together. Patch smiled at the family bonding and he was glad to be apart of a family that was so close with each other.

While that was going on, Darla was on her own, taking a walk. She passed the streets, signs, and stars that walked around in broad daylight and didn't shine at night like Danny once said they did before he became one himself. She wondered what this feeling was, but tried her best to ignore it as she passed around some once familiar sights that changed, but it wasn't too unfamiliar to her. She had lived here for three years after all.

"I wonder who the new actress is." Darla said. She then accidentally bumped into a boy with chestnut brown hair who seemed younger than her.

"Ow..." the boy winced.

Darla looked over and gasped. "Oh, no, sorry!"

"That's okay..." the boy rubbed his head, then tilted his head. "Say, you seem familiar..."

"Yeah, I get that a lot." Darla said.

The boy helped her up. Darla was surprised that he was helping her, but she mumbled out her thanks.

"So, what're you doing out here by yourself?" the boy asked.

"Just clearing my head, I get the feeling that I'm being watched." Darla said.

"Why would you feel like that?" the boy asked.

"I felt fine a little while ago, but I dunno..." Darla shrugged as she seemed to walk with him.

"Hmm..." the boy looked curious.

"Anyways, I never got your name." Darla said.

"I'm Derek Jonas." the boy gave his name.

"Um, hi, Derek." Darla smiled.

The boy smiled brightly. "That's where I know you from... I got your autograph at one of your movie premieres..."

"Uh, yeah..." Darla shrugged, she wasn't as proud of her movie star title as she used to be, but it was nice to have someone recognize her in a positive way. "Uh, where are we going?"

"Nowhere too special..." Derek seemed to smile darkly.

"Um, you know what, I think I better get back to my family." Darla said.

"No, come on, let's walk..." Derek grabbed onto her arm.

"Ow..." Darla winced. "You're hurting me! Look, pal, I don't know who you think you are, but my big brother's back at the hotel and I'll tell him what you're up to!"

"Come on!" Derek pulled her.

"Stop it!" Darla yelped.

Atticus and Patch then sensed that Darla was in trouble and where Atticus ran off to save her.

"Let go of me!" Darla demanded. "Let go!"

"I brought who you asked for, Mistress." Derek took Darla into a dark alley with a slender woman's shadow.

"Excellent work, my boy..." the woman said as her sapphire eyes were only visible and they seemed to be filled with hatred and rage. "You have done well..."

"Who are you?" Darla demanded.

"I'm your worst nightmare and you are mine now..." the woman said before taking out a couple of gas masks, then threw down a sphere.

The sphere opened up to show sleeping gas which flooded the air. Darla coughed heavily, then passed out and the woman picked her up in her arms and disappeared with Derek.


	6. Chapter 6

Atticus arrived at the alley way, but didn't find anyone there. Patch sniffed the air to track down someone.

"I know I heard her around here somewhere..." Atticus muttered.

Patch and Atticus looked to each other, both worried and confused.

Cherry was called to the Dreamscape, so she lay down on her bed and traveled, coming into the room with many doors, wondering why she was called this time.

"Cherry, Darla is in trouble." Mally said.

"Did she have another nightmare?" Cherry asked.

"I'm afraid this is a serious case of nightmares taking over the poor child," Teller replied. "You see, Darla's nightmares had not rested well after she's found the courage to confront her past and you will not believe who's after her."

"If it's just a dream, can't she wake up?" Cherry asked.

"No, Darla's nightmares have come to life and taken a physical form," Mally explained. "You see, Darla was kidnapped by... Her alternate self."

"What?!" Cherry asked. "How is that possible?"

"We've looked into Darla's subconscious and she is unlike many other girls, her nightmares have come to life to haunt her and belittle her..." Teller explained. "It's really complicated, not even I can explain it, but Darla is against herself."

"So, what?" Cherry tried to piece this together. "I don't understand..."

"This is Darla from an alternate reality, dear," Mally told her granddaughter. "She's from an alternate timeline where you and Atticus never came to Hollywood and Darla was forced to be a janitor and live like a street urchin for the rest of her life. It's what could have happened if you weren't apart of her life and she destroyed herself and now she visited Darla's nightmares to make them come true and she's going to destroy this Darla and become greedy and selfish to destroy everybody!"

"Whoa." Cherry blinked.

"But to save the Darla we all know and love, Atticus and his family will need to be informed about this." Teller said.

"I gues I have to do it then..." Cherry highly assumed.

"Yes, this will be your first trial as a dream-bender..." Mally said. "Even more than finding me or Atticus's aunt, Delilah."

"I understand..." Cherry said, she was then lifted up slightly and carried on her white tiger's back as he dipped her with his head and carried her. 

"Wear this," Teller put an amulet with a bright violet orb attached to it. "It'll help you with your abilities outside the Dreamscape and anything you wish up in your mental state will become reality as it would in your dream world."

"Cool, thanks, Kimba." Cherry said.

"Good luck, dear," Mally told her granddaughter. "You better get going now."

Cherry nodded. Kimba let out a small roar, then turned the other way and ran with Cherry on his back to take her straight to Hollywood to find Atticus and Patch.

"Where could she be?" Patch asked.

"She couldn't have gone that far..." Atticus said to himself. "I know I heard her from here... I might not have your dog hearing, but I know Darla when I hear her."

Then out of nowhere, Cherry appeared.

"Cherry!?" Atticus and Patch looked in surprise.

"I know where Darla is." Cherry said as she stayed firmly on Kimba's back.

"Where is she?" Atticus asked.

"Well, okay, I don't know where exactly yet, but I know who took her, she did it." Cherry said.

"Huh?" Patch tilted his head. 

Cherry sighed. "Okay, listen, this is going to get very complicated, but Darla's other self took her."

"You mean her alternate self took her?" Atticus asked. "How is that possible?"

"Okay, I know this is really weird and unusual, but hear me out..." Cherry took a deep breath and told the boys everything that her grandmother and Teller told her about Darla's dreams about how an alternate Darla from the future kidnapped her child past self for her own personal gain, it did sound really crazy and complicated, but that was all she could do.

And where luckily, they believed her and where she saw Atticus's family behind him. Kimba merely glanced to Patrick, Emily, and Jessica.

"We thought you could use some help..." Jessica grinned nervously.

"We actually will need all of the help, we can even get some extra muscle." Kimba said.

"Just leave certain degrees to me..." Cherry said as she held her orb in her hands, but kept the lace around her neck to wear it.

"So where are we going?" Emily asked.

"We have to find Darla and the villainess who's doing this to her," Cherry said, then held her hands together as they seemed to glow. "And I think I found a way how..." she said before splitting her hands apart and showed a mirror.

"That looks like Prince Adam's mirror." Atticus commented.

"Let's hope it works the same way..." Cherry said, then adjusted her glasses. "Show me Darla Fudo." she told the mirror.

And where to their luck, the mirror glowed and showed them exactly where Darla was. Cherry flinced from the bright light. Darla was being carried by the woman in her coat as the little girl was still knocked out cold. 

"We gotta go rescue her." Atticus said.

'But how?" Emily asked. 

"That's what we're about to find out..." Cherry narrowed her eyes in determination.

Meanwhile...

Darla yawned and was waking up, she smacked her lips and looked around as her vision was a little blurry at first. "Where... Where am I?"

"You're awake..." Derek grinned evilly.

"Where am I, Derek?" Darla glared.

"Oh, didn't you want to come home?" Derek stepped back with an evil smile. "Well, here you are..."

"Home?" Darla sounded confused. 

Derek turned on the light and brought her into a bedroom that was nearly all pink with a large bed that had heart-shaped pillows. "Welcome home."

"I haven't been here for a long time." Darla said.

"It's where you belong..." Derek smiled evilly with his arms folded.

"Look, I don't know what you're up to, but you better let me out THIS INSTANT!" Darla glared, sounding a little like her old self.

"Oh, that sure brings back memories..." the blonde woman walked in, looking way down at Darla.

"Who are you and what do you want from me?" Darla glared. "You can't hurt me, my brother will hurt you both worse!"

"Oh, Darla, honey, surely you don't think I'd want to hurt my favorite little girl in the whole wide world..." the woman chuckled.

"Huh?" Darla asked. "Wait, what?"

"Darla,... Don't you recognize me?" the woman ruffled up the girl's now cut short hair. "I just want you to be just like me when you grow up..."

Darla looked into the woman's eyes and took a close look her face to find anything familiar, then realized something. "You're me..."

"Correct." Adult Darla smiled evilly.

"This... This can't be possible..." Darla whispered.

"And there's no way that your family or those animals will find you here." Adult Darla smiled evilly.

"There's no way that this is happening!" Darla yelled out, then looked to the boy. "Derek, why are you teaming up with her?"

"I have to do what she wants me to and I agree with her," Derek folded his arms. "She's my mother."

"Mom?" Darla's face paled.

"Uh-huh." Derek nodded.

"That's not right!" Darla wailed. "HELP ME!" she then opened the door and ran out of it.

"Sorry, but there's no way anyone will be able to save you." Derek smirked.

Darla kept running. "Get away from me, you weirdos, get away!" she then opened the front door. "Haha, I found a way out!" 

"That's what you think." Adult Darla said.

Darla pulled a face. 'How do you mean?"

"Look for yourself." Derek smirked.

Darla opened the front door and stared up in slight horror. "Max..." she whispered, sounding rather frightful to see her former master servant who waited on her hand and foot and would harm anyone who got in her way. 

"Going somewhere, Miss Dimpool?" Max asked, sounding scary.

Darla backed up. "But... You can't be here... You disappeared after the movie premiere..."

"He works for the family now." Derek arrived behind Darla. 

"Okay, if you're my son, then who's your father?" Darla asked.

"Only the richest and most greedy heir there ever was," Derek smirked. "Jonas is actually my middle name, my real name is Derek Jonas Max."

"Greedy heir... Your last name is Max..." Darla stared at the boy. "Is your father Montana Max?!"

"Well, you're smarter than you look..." Derek laughed in her face. "We're going to destroy you because you could've had riches after you lost your family fortune from flooding the stage! Why did you give it all up?"

Darla thought back to when she met Cherry and Atticus. "They made me realize that family is a better gift that oodles of money... I'd rather have no money with a warm and loving family than tons of cash with no family at all!" Her medallion the started to glow, causing for Derek to flinch from the light.

"Hey..." Derek winced, squeezing his eyes shut and he turned his head. "What're you doin'!?"

"I... I don't know..." Darla stared at the medallion Princess Celestia gave her. And where this gave her an idea of how to bring her family and friends and hopefully, the animals, who she hoped had forgiven her, to where she was now.

Max snarled and picked up Darla in his giant hands.

Darla grunted and struggled, shaking, trying to get free, but Max was far too strong. Adult Darla watched from the top of the staircase with a very malicious grin.

"Oh, please work..." Darla whispered to her medallion. 

And where to her luck, it did, as Cherry, Atticus, Patch, Patrick, Emily, Jessica, and all the animals from the real world appeared.


	7. Chapter 7

Max glared at the door.

"MAX!" Adult Darla demanded. "DESTROY THOSE TRESPASSERS!" 

"I'd like to see you try." Atticus, Patch, and Patrick glared at Max.

"I'll handle the big guy." Patrick said.

"You sure, Dad?" Atticus asked. 

"It'll give me good exercise," Patrick smiled to his son. "No worries."

Atticus nodded and let Patrick take on Max, but would step in with Patch if ever necessary.

"You're in trouble now..." Darla glared to her adult self, her former butler, and alternate future son. 

"What's going on?" Sawyer asked.

"Look!" a light brown cat with blue eyes in a light green dress and bow pointed up to Max.

Darla screamed as Max was gripping onto her.

"Why don't you make like a bunch of trees and get out of here?" Derek glared at the crowd. 

"You mean 'make like a tree and leave'?" Cranston asked, confused.

"Just get out of here, Tin Can Breath." Derek scoffed.

"We'll do no such thing, young man," Tillie glared. "Now, you let go of that little girl!"

Darla looked down and saw Danny and all the other animals she knew. "You guys came back for me?" she asked, sounding a little touched.

"Of course we did, besides the past is the past and where we can't change it, but seeing that you had changed for the good during the years, we decided to give you a chance." Frances smiled.

"Yeah, we see that you were really honest," Tillie beamed.

"We're sorry, Darla, but we're all behind you now, 100%." Sawyer added.

"I kinda didn't wanna come here, but I thought it over and I figured you deserve another chance too, kiddo." Cranston added in.

"I hope we can be friends." the brown cat said.

"I think I'd like that." Darla said back.

"Oh, blah, blah, blah," Adult Darla rolled her eyes. "Can't you see they're just trying to bewitch you, Darla?" 

"Hey, you stay out of this!" Patch barked at Adult Darla.

"Why not?" Adult Darla glared down at the puppy. "This involves me just as much as it involves her."

Kimba walked in, carrying Cherry on his back. 

"What is that...?" Adult Darla asked. "Did you steal that beast from Las Vegas?"

"No, this tiger's mine..." Cherry glared. "You're going to pay for what you're doing with this poor innocent girl." 

"Yeah, no one messes with my little sister and gets away with it." Atticus added in.

Darla sniffled slightly, but it was a happy one this time.

"Enough with the sob story..." Adult Darla sneered. "It won't matter!" 

"What do you mean?" Danny asked.

"Because this is all an illusion brought up from the demented alternate reality..." Adult Darla grinned. "Only my child self's true desires can save her!"

"That's it..." Cherry had an idea. "Darla, you have to help me stop you!"

"Ugh, that gets more painful and confusing the more I think about it..." TW groaned.

"I don't have any powers!" Darla called back. 

"Yes, you do!" Atticus called to her.

"I do?" Darla pulled a face.

"Darla, what did you tell me before we left home!?" Emily called up.

Darla thought about it. "I went to the Sailor Moon world..."

"And what do we usually do during the summer together as a family?" Emily then called with a smile.

"Visit Uncle Triton in Atlantica..." Darla smiled halfway.

"And what world is that medallion from?" Emily then finished.

"Equestria..." Darla then realized that she did actually have her own powers. "Yeah!" she then glared at her alternate future self. "I have powers that YOU'LL never have!" 

"What?!" Adult Darla glared. "You think you're so special, you brat?!"

Darla began to glow brightly, as did her brooch and her medallion. Max tried to tighten his hold, but Darla broke free as she escaped with a glowing beam of bright light that shimmered around her. The blonde girl then came down, softly and gently on the floor and her new form was shown. She was a beautiful young princess.

"W-Who are you?" Adult Darla asked.

"Oh, don't you recognize me?" Darla mocked her future self. She then went into a certain pose. "Pretty Guardian of Love and Justice in a Sailor Suit! Sailor Moon has arrived! In the name of the Moon, I'll punish you!"

"Sailor Moon, eh?" Adult Darla glanced at her younger self.

"Yes, because I chose my destiny myself, you don't exist, I do, and I'm a lot happier than you'll ever be, you selfish, vain, spoiled brat!" Darla sneered.

"B-But I thought there was only one Sailor Moon?" Derek asked, scared.

"You thought wrong..." Darla glared. "And not only that, I have Equestrian and mermaid magic of my own." 

"But that's impossible!" Adult Darla grew outraged. "I don't have any of that!"

"That's because you're not her, you're only an alternate version of her!" Atticus glared.

"You won't exist for much longer," Cherry glared at the evil blonde woman. "Darla controls your fate and you and your son should not exist."

Kimba snarled at the blonde woman.

"Lies!" Adult Darla glared before she saw that both her and her son were disappearing.

"NO!" Derek cried.

Max snarled viciously and tried to go after Adult Darla and Derek, but Patrick kicked him down.

"You leave my family alone, you monster!" Patrick glared.

"D-D-Did he just kick Mr. Max down?" Derek asked.

"I won't let you win!" Adult Darla struggled.

Cherry held her hands together and made a golden glow appear in her hands, when she opened up her hands, she took out a disc and threw it at Adult Darla and Derek which then opened up and made a laser cage appear in front of the mother and son. 

"You can't do that!" Adult Darla cried.

"I just did..." Cherry narrowed her eyes. 

"Now, as I said before, you're going to be punished." Darla threatened her adult self.

"Oh, please, the only way you can punish us is if you have the Moon Staff." Derek scoffed.

Darla looked worried for a moment.

Cherry shut her eyes, she closed her hands together and made a white glow appear in her hand and she opened up her hands to show a pink and golden cane-like object with a red and gold object above it and in the center was a white crystal sphere. 

"What's that?" Derek asked.

"The Moon Staff!" Adult Darla screamed. "Where did you get it!?"

"Whatever I imagine becomes reality..." Cherry said, giving Darla a helping hand.

"Oh, no." Derek said.

"Oh, yes..." Cherry smirked. She then gave the Moon Staff to Darla.

"Thank you." Darla smiled.

Cherry nodded. "Now go stop the void of evil." she said before saluting.

"You got it." Darla saluted back.

"I'll kill you!" Evil Darla sneered at her child self.

"If you kill me, you won't even exist!" Darla smirked.

"I hate when logic comes into this." Adult Darla glared.

"If it's anything you don't have, it's logic." Cherry retorted.

"Burn." Frances giggled.

"Moon Healing Escalation!" Darla called out before raising the Moon Staff high in the air.

The staff sparked and glowed a moment.

"What's happening?" Derek asked his mother in a panic.

Adult Darla and Derek screamed. The moon beam light imploded on the two and there was a big foom. Everyone was crouched down and they were holding each other as the wind blew back their hair and fur slightly and their eyes were clenched shut. There was a pile of pink bricks and the mansion seemed to be completely destroyed. 

Everyone else got up and they dusted each other clean and smiled once they saw that they were all okay. However, one was not with them: Darla. They all looked around and tried to find the little girl, but they couldn't find her or see her, much to their worry and sadness, fearing that she must have been crushed or killed in the process.


	8. Chapter 8

"Please, please, let her be okay." Atticus prayed.

"Oh, no..." Sawyer whispered.

Danny then hugged her as tears entered the white cat's eyes. The animals hung their heads in concern and sympathy for the Fudo family as they looked emotionally wrecked and worried about the newest addition to their family.

Even Cranston shed some tears. "I never wanted the kid to get hurt..." he muttered out, sounding very sorry.

Patch even began to whimper and sniff before he started to get Darla's scent.

"What is it, boy?" Atticus asked.

Patch dug out the bricks, but luckily, everyone was able to miss the bricks so they wouldn't get hurt. He bit onto Darla's dress collar and pulled her out. Darla was only slightly bruised, her eyes were shut and she wasn't moving.

"No..." Emily whispered sadly, she picked up Darla in her arms as she feared the child was probably dead, she then hugged the little girl and started to weep. Even though Darla was not her biological child, she was always a kind and loving mother to her, something the girl never had for long.

The Fudo family joined each other as they feared that Darla died from the crushing bricks.

"No, this can't be..." Atticus was in most pain. "Darla, you were the best little sister I could ever ask for... I'd give anything just to see you again..."

Cherry put her hands together and made a golden glow which made her fly up in the air, passing the clouds.

Meanwhile, Darla was shown awake and alive, though she was surrounded by white clouds. "Where... Where am I?"

"Darlene, is that you?" a female voice called.

"Who said that?" Darla asked.

"It's been too long, dearest..." the female voice said.

Darla tried to walk over the clouds, but she seemed to float and hover slightly. She then was tumbling over a cloud hill that then brought her in front of a dirty blonde and a light brunette haired couple who smiled down to her. "Have we met?" she asked, then thought about it a moment. "Wait..." she then reached into her pocket and took out a secret photograph she always kept, showing the couple in the picture with a black-haired older girl and the couple holding onto a blonde bundle wrapped in a pink blanket, she then looked back at the couple. "Mommy... Daddy..." she whispered.

"Yes, princess, it's us." Her father smiled.

Darla hugged her biological parents, then gasped once horror dawned her in realization. "Am I... I... D-D-Dead...?"

"It's a near-death experience, sweetheart," her mother explained. "It's not your time yet."

"Not my time yet?" Darla tilted her head.

"What she means is it's not your time to die yet." Her father told the blonde girl.

"So will you come back with me?" Darla asked in excitement.

"I'm sorry, dear..." her mother sighed. "We'll always watch over you... Besides, you have a family on Earth who misses you."

"Your mother is right, Princess, besides, you still have the power of the Silver Crystal." Her father said.

"You know about that?" Darla asked.

"Of course we do, dear, we've been watching over you your entire life." Her mother smiled.

"Yeah, I guess..." Darla smiled sheepishly then, then frowned slightly. "Even though I kinda acted bratty when I was in Mammoth's care?"

"Yes." her parents nodded.

Darla felt ashamed of her former self.

"It's okay, sweetie, you were just upset because you had all that fame and glory, but no one to share it with..." her mother cooed gently.

"But right now, you must return to your friends and family." Her father told the blonde girl.

"Oh, can't I stay a little longer?" Darla's voice grew soft suddenly.

"It's best you go back to your new family..." her mother replied. "We promise that we love you no matter what..."

Cherry arrived in the cloudy paradise that was Heaven, she arrived to take Darla back home.

"Cherry, how did you get here?" Darla asked. "Are you near dead too?"

"No, I used my abilities to bring myself here," Cherry explained. "I visit here all the time whenever I want moral guidance, especially from my late grandparents."

"Cool." Darla smiled.

"I'm going to take her back now, Mr. and Mrs. Beaumont." Cherry told Darla's biological parents.

"Of course..." Darla's mother nodded. "Thank you so much for your genorsity and helping her becoming a lovely and mature young lady."

"It's Atticus's doing really." Cherry replied.

"It's true." Darla smiled.

"We love you, Darla," Darla's father said. "We always have and always will... Take care of yourself now..."

Darla shut her eyes as tears entered them and she hugged her parents one last time. "I miss you both so much..." she whispered softly and sadly. "I miss my sister too..."

"And she misses you too." Darla's mother said.

Darla wiped her eyes, she didn't want to let go of her parents, especially her mother. Darla's mother decided to sing Darla a lullaby to relax her and soothe her of this very heartbreaking, though at the same time, heartwarming.

She had a truly angelic and wonderful voice like many mothers naturally had. This caused for Darla to smile. Cherry looked at the time, then took Darla's tiny hand and walked her out of Heaven's golden and pearly gates. Darla looked sad again once she had to leave her birth parents, but she waved to them as they waved to her back. After a little while, Darla was brought back into her body.

Cherry reappeared back on the Earth as the family was crying for the loss of Darla. However, one tear dropped and it planted against the child's forehead. Darla's eyes twitched and she slowly opened them, letting out a quiet grunt as she was awake and alive now.

"D-Darla, you're alive?!" Atticus smiled as he hugged her.

Cherry had a small smirk.

"Oh, thank heaven!" Emily hugged her youngest child.

Everyone soon began to join in the group hug.

"Um, I'm happy that I'm alive too, but would mind easing up on the hug? I think I can almost see the light of heaven again." Darla said, trying to breathe.

"Oh, sorry!" the others backed up.

Darla gasped for air.

"Okay, break it up, people, let her breathe, let her breathe..." Cherry told everybody.

Everyone began to give Darla some room to breathe. Darla caught her breath and relaxed.

"You okay now?" Danny asked since he was the most concerned of the little blonde girl of all.

"I'm fine..." Darla sighed calmly.

"Whew, that's a relief." Sawyer sighed.

"M-My mansion..." Darla looked down at the pink bricks, knowing her former home was destroyed.

"I'm afraid Dimple Manor is no more." TW said, taking off his hat as a sign of respect.

"Thank goodness..." Darla actually sounded relieved.

"Wait, you mean you're actually happy that it's destroyed?" Tillie asked.

"It's like a breath of fresh air..." Darla spread her arms out once she hopped to her feet. "The life I once had is over! ..." she then bowed her head. "For now anyway... I still wanna have a word with a certain producer..."

"Would you like us to go with you?" Jessica asked.

Darla looked back to her family. "You can all walk me there, but I'd prefer to handle him myself."

"You got it, little sis, and if there are any guards that give you any trouble, me and Dad will take care of em." Atticus said.

"Of course." Darla smiled to her big brother.

The group left the shattered remains of Darla's former home since she knew that her home was where her heart was and that with the people who treated her like family and made her into the growing girl she needed to be and not a pampered and spoiled diva.


	9. Chapter 9

Darla found the way to LB Mammoth's office and was on her way inside, Atticus and Patrick stood close to the door as Darla knocked on the door.

"Yes, yes, come in..." the voice replied.

Darla opened the door and nodded to her family before going inside and shut the door behind her.

"Yes, how may I help you?" LB asked as he didn't look up at her and did his paperwork.

"Hello, Mr. Mammoth." Darla greeted coldly.

"Darla? What are you doing here? GUARDS!" LB yelled out.

"Um, I wouldn't do that, sir..." Darla folded her arms.

"And why not?" LB glared at his former foster child.

Darla opened the door slightly to show Atticus and Patrick taking on the guards before they could hurt any of them. And where to LB Mammoth's surprise, both Atticus and Patrick lifted them up like they were nothing.

Darla smirked slightly with flat eyes. "So can we talk?"

"Y-Yes." LB nodded, startled.

"Super!" Darla chirped before closing the door.

"So, what would you like to talk about?" LB asked.

"About us..." Darla sat down in the chair in front of his desk.

"Us?" LB asked.

"Yeah... Us..." Darla explained, crossing her legs slightly. "You were never really there for me... You came to the orphanage I lived in for not even a full year and you adopted me and raised me to become a movie star... We made our first movie together... You then just treated me like a client..."

"I gave you everything you could ever want," LB glared slightly. "You got everything your little heart desired! What didn't you have that I never gave you?"

"Someone to love and care about me like a parent!" Darla yelled with hurtful tears in her eyes. "You just left me with Max! You never came to that house you gave me, you never hugged me whenever I won something, you just took your picture with me and considered that a job well done... You never really took care of me."

"Well, I'm sorry, but my job doesn't exactly give me enough time to care for children." LB glared at her.

"Then why did you take me in!?" Darla asked. "Was that all you just wanted a kid for? Someone who would just give you more money if you represented a child for your newer movies after your actors were getting too old?"

"Of course!" LB glared at her. "Why else?!"

"That's totally selfish!" Darla cried out.

LB folded his arms and turned his back on her. "Sound familiar, Little Miss America's Sweetheart Lover of Children and Animals?"

"I understand it all now..." Darla narrowed her eyes. "Because of you, I was a brat... I was spoiled, self-obsessed, and obnoxious because of you!"

"You take that back right now, you brat!" LB glared.

"I won't!" Darla glared back, tears coming in her eyes again. "I'm glad you fired me, because I saw the light and I got something that I always wanted that you could never give me: A warm and loving family!"

"That's enough out of you!" LB glared before slapping Darla in the face.

Darla screamed out.

Patch's ear went up and he turned his head in slight concern.

"What is it?" Jessica asked.

"It sounded like a slap and a scream." Patch said in a warning tone.

"WHAT!?" Patrick nearly growled.

Atticus let his guard go, causing him to crash to the ground and then the strong boy knocked down the door with just one kick and saw that Darla really did get slapped and which angered him. Darla held her cheek.

"You okay?" Atticus asked softly to her, but with a harsh glare over to LB. 

"He hit me..." Darla sniffled.

"Darla, you go back to the others, I'm going to give LB Mammoth a one trip flight by knuckle sandwich airline." Atticus said as he glared at LB while showing a fist.

Darla nodded, she seemed to wobble in her steps, but she made it back out to her family. Atticus went up to the fat producer and began to wind up his right fist for the strongest uppercut he had ever done and he was going to use it on LB.

"Just who do you think you are doing that to me!?" LB glared at Atticus.

"Who do you think you are harming an innocent little girl!?" Atticus glared back.

"I am LB Mammoth, and I'll call the police if you--" LB started his threat.

Atticus didn't want to hear another word out of him and punched him with the uppercut with all of his strength, sending the fat producer sky rocketing.

"Did you guys hear a crash?" Jessica asked, wondering if she was just hearing things or not.

"Yeah, it sounded like it came from LB's office." Sawyer said.

Atticus came out of the office after delivering the only final blow on LB.

"Are you okay?" Patch smiled to his owner.

"I'll be okay, but I don't think the same can be said for LB." Atticus nodded to him.

"And to think we thought Darla was the real monster of Hollywood, but it was him all along." Sawyer said.

"I know, right?" Danny asked.

"So you were never pure evil, darling?" Frances asked the blonde girl.

"No, I never meant to hurt anybody, I just wanted LB's attention..." Darla pouted. "I mean, he adopted me and took me in... It sounds so glamorous on the outside to become a child movie star."

"Well, we're so sorry that he never gave you any love or attention." Emily soothed her youngest adopted daughter.

"I thought I was happy, but I wasn't..." Darla said softly. "Thank you for bringing me though..."

"No more nightmares..." Cherry said in a relaxed tone of voice.

"No more nightmares." Darla smiled.

The others looked curious of what that meant, but Atticus felt like he had a pretty good idea, though said nothing.

Sawyer then decided that now was a good time to introduce her and Danny's daughter. "Darla, could you come over here a moment?"

"Um, okay..." Darla said to the white cat woman.

Sawyer smiled, then took Darla's hand, bringing her over to Danny and the brown cat.

"So, who do we have here?" Darla asked.

"Darla, this is our adopted daughter, Sally," Sawyer introduced. "Sally, this is Darla."

"H-Hello, Darla." Sally said, shyly.

"Um... Hi..." Darla gave a small smile and wave to the brown cat girl. "You new in town?"

"A little..." Sally smiled back with her paws behind her back.

"She's a little shy." Danny said.

Sally smiled a little.

"It's okay..." Darla tried to relax the cat girl. "Let's be friends."

"I'd like that..." Sally shuffled her feet.

Everybody smiled, they knew before Darla said she hated animals, but it was great and refreshing to see her getting along and being gentle with an animal.

"What?" Darla asked the shocked other animals. "I have my own kitty at home."

"You do?" Sawyer asked.

"Yeah, she was from the farm next door from my family back home's new farm," Patch explained.

"Her name is Maisy..." Darla smiled. "Her fur is so bouncy and soft..."

"She sounds lovely." Sally smiled.

"She really is..." Darla said, feeling she struck a friendship with Sally. At least, hopefully.

Everyone smiled as they were leaving the movie producer's office and moving on to other things.

"So what now?" Patch asked.

"I'd say it's about dinner time." Emily said.

"Yeah." Patrick agreed.

"Yeah, it is about time for dinner." Jessica smiled.

"Let's get some then." Emily said.

Darla was very happy, the happiest she had ever been in her life so far. Cherry then decided to take her leave so the Fudo family could enjoy the rest of their vacation. And where this vacation would be one that none of them would want to forget.

Cherry returned to the Dreamscape once that was settled. She returned the artifacts and felt victorious for herself.

"You have done well, my mistress..." Kimba nuzzled Cherry.

Cherry gently pet his face. "All in a night's work, I suppose."

"Indeed." Kimba smiled.

Cherry gently pet his fur which caused him to start purring.

"Good tiger..." Cherry said softly.

Mally and Teller stood in a nearby corner and smiled to Cherry for her bravery and mastering her dream-bending abilities.

"I bet Drell will be impressed." Teller said.

"Let's find out." Mally agreed.

Cherry let her tiger return to her own imagination and she put up everything else, then passed her grandmother and the magician who was secretly a highly intelligent wizard of all types of magic.

Back with the Fudo family, they were now having dinner.

"I just can't believe that man would hurt a child..." Jessica said softly.

"It doesn't hurt too badly, does it, honey?" Patrick asked Darla.

"No, not so much." Darla smiled.

"That's good..." Patrick smiled, then looked serious. "If he does it again, he has to answer to me."

Darla smiled back to him, feeling incredibly blessed. The entire dinner was delicious, after dinner Patrick smirked at Atticus. Atticus smirked back, hiding his one hand under the table as he was sneaking some of his food for Patch. And where Patch began to eat the food.

"Okay, before you two do anything, you two can wrestle or rough house when we get home" Emily told her son and husband.

"Just not when I might have homework." Jessica warned with a smile.

"Okay." Atticus and Patrick smiled.

"Thank you." Jessica chuckled.

"As soon as we get back home and unpack, you two can rough house." Emily said.

Patrick and Atticus looked to each other eagerly. After dinner, they went to get some sleep.


	10. Chapter 10

Cherry was about to go to sleep and not visit the Dreamscape since her work was done for now, but she found an envelope under her pillow and opened it, but flinched once she heard the frighteningly familiar voice. ''CHERRY BUTLER, REPORT TO MY OFFICE IMMEDIATELY!"

"Ugh... It's like he knows when I don't wanna be disturbed..." Cherry groaned and buried her face in her pillow. "Well, maybe he won't notice if I go to sleep..."

"DID YOU HEAR ME?!" The letter yelled.

Cherry gasped and rushed to the door to the other realm.

"That's better..." the letter said then.

Cherry put on the clothes she already put away and zipped up her jacket, rushing to the supernatural realm to Drell's office and sat in the waiting room as the woman typed at her computer until Drell would summon her.

"Ah, you must be his next appointment." The woman said to Cherry.

Cherry grinned nervously, then stood up from her chair. "Look, if he's busy with a bunch of appointments, I'll just go and come back later..."

"Nope, he doesn't have any other appointments." The woman told her.

"Oh, surely we can reschedule..." Cherry clenched her teeth.

The woman saw a red light on her call button. "Excuse me a moment..." she said, then excused herself to open the office door and shut it behind her, leaving Cherry alone in the foggy waiting room.

"I gotta get out of here..." Cherry backed up, but she was grabbed by a pair of arms. "GAH!"

Skippy shook his head at her and kept a firm hold on her.Cherry sighed as she was stuck here until Drell would call for her which was very long.

"Cherry, come into my office." Drell's voice told her.

Cherry sighed, Skippy let her go and then went to the other way, he seemed to be playing with a bell sock toy like what cats played with. She came into the dark office door as the warlock sat behind his desk and actually smiled to her. "Drell... I'm not suffering and you're smiling..."

"I want to congratulate you," Drell smiled. "You're not a puny mortal anymore!"

"Uh, thanks..." Cherry mumbled.

"No, really, I'm impressed," Drell insisted he wasn't being sarcastic. "You used your dream-bending powers to help save Atticus's little sister! This is how you're one of the good guys, you may be dark and lonely all the time, but you have a good heart and I'm proud of ya!" he then stood up from behind his desk and hugged her tightly. "Oh, I'm so proud of you, I wish you were a relation of mine..."

Cherry grunted from the hug.

"Oops, sorry, I forget about my strength sometimes." Drell said as he loosened his grip.

Cherry winced and let out a weak cough once he let go of her.

"I'm really proud of ya," Drell put his arm around her. "Even though he doesn't know you exist, I'm sure your mother's birth father would be proud..."

Cherry sighed. "I hate my powers, I thought I was different..."

"Why do you hate your powers?" Drell asked.

"I don't understand this, why can't I be a normal mortal?" Cherry groaned.

"Heeeey now...." Drell held her rather tighter. "This isn't all bad, you'll be like your friends... Atticus has Wiccan magic... Mo has Earthian magic... You have dream bending magic..."

"But no one else does except for my mother's biological family and he doesn't even care about her!" Cherry sounded angry and sad all at once.

"Oh....." Drell said.

Cherry sighed.

"Look, I know I give you a hard time, but you're Atticus's best friend and you deserve better..." Drell smiled. "I think I should also be a magic trainer at the school like at Sabrina's old school with Mr. Snipe and Ms. Magrooney." 

"There's magic training at Canterlot High!?" Cherry asked in surprise.

"Yeah," Drell laughed. "Why do you think Trixie carries a wand with her?"

"Hm..." Cherry shrugged.

"Because she's trying to improve her magic." Drell said.

"Wait, so Canterlot students have magic too?" Cherry asked.

"Some of them," Drell smiled. "Just gotta learn where to look, why do you think I decided to take a teaching job there?"

"So you can make my life twice as miserable?" Cherry modestly guessed with a nervous smile.

"No, so then I can teach magic there," Drell said. "That and so then, I can whip some of those students into shape."

"Of course you would..." Cherry sighed.

"Especially you..." Drell seemed to smirk darkly. 

Cherry cupped her mouth then.

"Now, the reason why I called you here is so I can reward you." Drell said.

"Now that's more like it." Cherry smiled smugly since Drell was actually being generous with her.

"Do you wanna know what it is or not?" Drell glared.

"Uh, yes, sir..." Cherry said then respectively and maturely to stay on his good side.

"Good," Drell said before giving her a certificate. "This shows that you will not be unlucky for one whole month."

"What!?" Cherry took it.

Drell nodded with an honest smile. "No pain, no humiliation, no insane driving, just you and yourself for a whole month."

"Wow..." Cherry was surprised. "I-I don't know what to say."

"A 'thank you' would do." Drell said.

"Um... Thanks..." Cherry said then.

"Sure..." Drell held out his hand for her.

Cherry winced at first, then glanced at him. She shut her eyes tight and turned her head as she shook hands with him to finalize it, but she then got electrocuted which made her fall in the middle of the floor.

"Starting now!" Drell grinned.

"I..... Hate.... You..." Cherry mumbled.

"Yeah, yeah." Drell smirked.

Cherry helped herself up, still slightly shaking.

Drell ruffled up her hair roughly. "Be good now..."

"Yeah, yeah..." Cherry coughed herself. 

Drell then left to go meet his lovely wife. 

Cherry left the office to get back to her bedroom. The woman looked up with a small smile. Cherry nodded to her and went to get back home.

"You can go home now." Drell told his secretary as he locked the door behind him.

"Thank you, sir." The woman said before teleporting out.

Drell nodded to her and then came to his home briefly to check on things. "Skippy?!"

Skippy poked his head out, holding an arm out the door he was coming out of, he didn't seem to have a shirt on as his arm was bare, but he still had his hat on and he had a dollar bill in his mouth for some reason.

"I'm going out to see Hilda," Drell said. "You okay here?"

Skippy grinned eagerly and nodded.

"Good." Drell nodded.

Skippy nodded back.

"What're you doing in there anyway?" Drell was about to open the door all the way.

Skippy's eyes widened and he shook his head rapidly, then smiled sheepishly and uneasily, trying to shoo Drell away.

"Skippy...?" Drell smirked. "Do you have someone in the house?"

Skippy's face turned bright red, he shook his head and tried to shut the door. But due to Drell being bigger than him and being the strongest man in the universe, Drell was able to open the door. Skippy covered his face in sheer embarrassment.

Angela was only sitting on Skippy's bed and wearing her white gown, looking like she hadn't done anything wrong. "May I help you, Drell? I'd prefer if you knocked..."

"Oh... Heh... Sorry..." Drell chuckled nervously to the female gargoyle.

Skippy wiped his forehead in relief.

"Skippy, you and your girlfriend may continue with what you two were doing." Drell said before leaving.

Skippy chuckled nervously, he then shut the door after Drell.

"Where were we?" Angela asked.

Skippy grabbed a collar like a dog and wore it, jumping next to her and nuzzling against her lap. 

"Oh, good boy!" Angela laughed, cuddling with him.

"And then I said 'no, you're impossible'," Penelope ranted on her bedroom crystal ball like a stereotypical teenager on the phone. "And then he said 'no, you're impossible', and then I said--Hang on, my dad's coming." she whispered before she heard footsteps and quickly covered the crystal ball with a blanket and tried to look innocent.

Her door then opened to show her father look at her suspiciously.

"Heeeeey, Daddy..." Penelope smiled.

"What're you doing in here, girl?" Drell asked.

"Nuthin', just studying..." Penelope took one of her school books and cracked it open. "Hmm... Thigh bone's connected to the knee bone... I did not know that."

"Uh-huh..." Drell said as he came over to where the crystal ball was hidden.

"N-No, don't!" Penelope shivered.

Drell took the blanket off and saw a teenage mermaid who was not a relation to Atticus.

"Heh... Good evening, Mr. Batsworth..." the mermaid greeted nervously.

"Hello, dear..." Drell smiled rather evilly.

"Uh, I'm gonna go now!" the mermaid hung up quickly.

"And I'm going to be taking this away." Drell said before picking up the crystal ball.

"Nooo..." Penelope sounded very dismayed.

"You're grounded..." Drell looked very firm with his daughter. "I told you thousands of times to NEVER EVER make long-distance calls, and what do you do? MAKE LONG-DISTANCE CALLS!"

"Please..." Penelope begged for forgiveness. "I didn't mean it! I'll do whatever it takes to make up for it."

"Hmm..." Drell scratched his chin. "I can't trust you here alone since your Uncle Skippy has Angela over a lot and he'll be too distracted to look after you..."

"So...?" Penelope asked.

"Hmm..." Drell looked to her. "What would be a fitting punishment for you?"

Penelope gripped her collar nervously.

"I suppose I could take you with me to Hilda and have Zelda lecture you..." Drell smirked slightly.

"NO! ANYTHING BUT THAT!" Penelope begged.

"Would you rather like to have someone watch over you?" Drell asked.

Penelope felt defeated and she then stared at her feet. "How long until we go to the Spellman house?"

"Right.... Now." Drell said before transporting them instantly to the front door of the Spellman house.

"Hey!" Penelope cried as that was so sudden.

Drell rang the doorbell. "You said..."

Hilda opened the door and smiled to Drell, letting him inside. "Sabrina's at the movies with Harvey, Penelope."

"Oh, darn the luck, guess I'll just go home." Penelope said, turning around to walk away.

"Oh, no, you don't." Drell said.

"Oh, come on, can't I just be watched over by Atticus?" Penelope complained before covering her mouth, knowing that the strong boy was somewhat like her father.

"Well... Someone seems insistent on being looked after by Atticus..." Drell smirked, then leaned in with a low growl. "You are so lucky he's on vacation with his family, but as soon as he gets back, he is watching your unlucky little butt on LOCKDOWN!"

Penelope gulped in response to that.

"Your sister home?" Drell asked Hilda with a smile.

"Yes, she's in the kitchen grading papers, I'm sure she'd enjoy Penelope's company." Hilda seemed to see where this was going.

Drell then went to Hilda's bedroom with the owner.

Penelope tried to walk away, but Drell snapped his fingers and made her feet move her into the kitchen to sit down right across from Zelda and be taught a lesson for her misdeeds. "I hate you!" she exclaimed on the way against her own free will.

Zelda looked up. "Hello, Penelope."

"Heh... Hi, Zelda..." Penelope smiled nervously.

Zelda folded her arms sharply then, looking like a firm and strict mother. "What did you do?"

Penelope sighed as she was stuck there now.

Darla was walking alone around Hollywood again, she wanted to just take one last look before she would leave with her family and she felt a lot better and more comfortable about being here again and would make plans to visit in the future if available. She then saw a flower wilted, ready to die.

"You poor thing..." the blonde girl cooed to the flower, she then bent down and picked it up, gently holding it in her arms like she were trying to hug it and was healing it back to life, as was her destined powers given to her and where it bloomed even more beautifully.

Darla smiled, she was about to walk off with the flower to give either to Emily or Jessica, but she passed a family in the alley who looked to be starving in the streets and looked quite miserable. There was a little boy in the family who reminded her of someone, but she could not think of who right now. Darla looked to the dirt poor family, then to the flower, then walked over to them.

The family was looking for food and warmth, but had trouble as they were homeless. There was a baby who looked very hungry, but the family barely had enough to put food on the table. Darla came over to the boy who then looked to her and she held out the flower to him to give as a token of her sympathy and affection.

"Th-Thank you." the boy smiled.

Darla smiled back. "You're absolutely welcome."

"Your family is so lucky to have someone so generous and kind as you, little girl." the mother smiled in high appreciation.

"Thank you, ma'am, and I'm lucky to have them as my family." Darla smiled.

"What a very thoughtful thing to say," the father said. "Oh, you should get back to them before it gets dark."

"Okay, good night." Darla waved to the homeless family and walked off.

"Good night!" the family called back.

"What an adorable little angel." the mother cooed.

"Indeed she is." The father smiled.

Darla grabbed onto one of the street lights and twirled herself around with it like in a musical number and smiled. "Hollywood! Where the stars don't shine at night... They walk around in broad daylight... Right here in Holllllyyywoood!~" she sang to herself before going back to the hotel where her family was staying in for their vacation.

This was truly a vacation that Darla, her family, Cherry, Patch, or any of the animals would ever forget.


	11. Chapter 11

"I still can't believe this," Jessica said as she sat with Darla on the couch. "What're the odds that OUR cousin would be in a band with YOUR sister?"

"I guess it was fate." Darla shrugged.

"Well..." Jessica hugged Darla. "I'm glad we've met though... I've always wanted a little sister..."

"Did you ever dress up Atticus like a baby doll and put dresses and make-up on him?" Darla asked with a small smirk.

Jessica bit her lip. "Maybe?"

"You did what?!" Atticus asked out of shock.

Jessica covered her mouth with a snicker.

"Oh, come on!" Atticus complained.

"I wanted a little sister..." Jessica shrugged innocently. "Plus Mom said that there were some times that I had to take care of you, play with you, and dress you up."

"I don't think she meant in a dress!" Atticus glanced at his sister.

"Oopsie." Jessica smirked. She laughed even more which made Darla laugh with her.

"I promise you, Jessica, I will get my revenge!" Atticus called out, shaking his fist.

"Cry me a river, Attica!" Jessica called, teasingly.

"I mean it." Atticus glared.

'Okay..." Jessica stuck her tongue out, acting like a troll.

"Were you always like this?" Atticus glanced back.

"As far as you know." Jessica chuckled.

"I swear, Atticus will get his vengeance!" Patch declared.

Jessica just laughed, having a lot of amusement in the littlest things.

"Animal crackers?" Emily put a bowl of the treats in front of her children on the coffee table in front of the couch.

Darla had a strange feeling of deja vu since she was among animal crackers and Atticus was also present.

"Whoa, strange, deja vu..." Atticus rubbed his head.

"You feel that too?" Darla looked to him.

"Uhh...?" Jessica did not understand.

Atticus began to tell them all of how the animal crackers made it feel like deja vu. "Darla invited us over to tea one day, it was a trick of course back then and she kept biting the heads off of the animals and threw them at Danny to scare him away."

"Yikes..." Jessica whispered. "Why'd you bite the heads off, Darla?"

"Just to show I meant serious business..." Darla shrugged, she didn't even sound bothered or broken that the past was brought up anymore.

"What happened after that?" Patch asked.

"That was when I was making plans to trick Cherry, Atticus, and Danny," Darla explained. "I was going to have them show up on Stage 13 Friday at 3:00 during LB's big press conference so I could flood the stage and blame them so they could get kicked out of Hollywood for good."

"Did you ever show remorse for your actions?" Atticus asked.

"Well..." Darla curled her finger in her hair as she was thinking back to that.

*Flashback*

"But it wasn't!" Danny cried as the gates were slammed shut in front of his face, being shut out like the other animals. "It wasn't their fault..."

The limo pulled up and Darla showed her face after Max was bringing out the soaking wet penguin who was held hostage as part of this evil plan.

"Nice working with you, Danny, Cherry, and Atticus!" Darla smirked and fell back laughing at them. "Singing and dancing animals!" she called before Max drove the limo off just so she could laugh at them.

However, as the limo was taking Darla back home, something different happened far from what she planned. Max dropped Darla off in front of LB.

"So, those animals are banned forever, huh?" Darla asked with a smirk, hoping he would pay attention to her for once.

"Yes, they are." LB said, still drying himself off.

"Are you all right, Miss Dimple?" Flanigan added.

"Uh, yeah, I'm fine..." Darla rubbed her arm. "So, hey, I was wondering, LB, would you like to come over for-"

"Oh, not now, Darla..." LB said, walking off with the film director. "We have to get things ready for your movie premiere and we're not going to let those animals stand in the way!"

"Don't you wanna come over and talk maybe!?" Darla called out to him. "C-Come on! Don't leave me alone, Daddy!" she then gasped and covered her mouth once she realized what she called him.

But even though she said that, LB didn't turn around. Darla was all alone, she held her chest as she felt her heart sink. Nobody was there to join her side. Darla never thought about her parents much before until Cherry and Atticus brought them up when they first met on the first day of filming for her newest movie. No one to pat her on the back, no one to hug her and tell her she was the perfect child in their eyes, not caring what anyone else thought, Darla had millions of admirers, but there were two she needed to get her through the day: Parents.

"Ride, Miss Dimpool?" Max offered.

"I'll walk home, Max..." Darla said softly as she hung her head and felt more miserable than the animals did for being kicked out of Hollywood. "The long way home..."

Max watched his very young mistress wander off, he had never seen her like this before, but there were some nights where he would hear her cry herself to sleep and force herself to smile brightly and cheerfully like a child who could never be unhappy or selfish.

The former was mostly true as she only was the latter for attention and the care of a family, instead she was just a meal ticket for a movie producer who only adopted her to make more money. Darla wiped her eye as a tear rolled down her cheek, no one was even there to do that for her, give her a big, warm hug, or stroke her back and tell her everything was going to be okay. She was all alone.

*End of Flashback*

Darla wiped her eyes as she felt a song coming on. This made Atticus think of a song that Mo often sang to her dog Angel to make her feel better whenever they had tough times on the streets. 

Atticus: Always there,  
To warm you in the winter.  
Always there

With shelter from the rain.  
Always there,  
To catch you when you're falling.

Always there to stand you up again.  
Family...

Darla: By your side.  
In seconds if you ask it,  
Arms out wide,

To welcome you to stay.  
Near enough,  
To listen to your heart's song.

Always there to help you on your way.  
Family.

Atticus: Family.

Darla and Atticus: Family.

Patrick: What is a family?  
Caring and devoted hearts.

Emily: With endless love to share.

Patrick and Emily: Love that will follow you everywhere.

Atticus: Always there  
To welcome you in winter

Darla: What is a family?

Patrick: Arms out wide,  
To welcome you to stay.

Atticus: Right by your side

Darla: Near enough

Atticus & Darla: To listen to your heart's song

Patrick: Always there to help you on your way family.

Darla: Always there.

Atticus: Family.

Darla: Family.

Fudo family: Family.

The family shared a tender hug with each other through tears. Patch joined in, not handling not being in the hug. It was a very bittersweet moment. Emily brought tissues out from her purse.

"You okay, Darla?" Jessica asked gently.

"I'm all right..." Darla took a tissue. "Thank you, Mama Emily..." she said before dabbing her eyes and blew her nose. "I just never thought I'd ever be with a real family again after all I've been through."

"Well, when I saw that you needed help and that you use to have a family once, I thought that maybe you could come with us and live with a care and loving family and where luckily my family seemed to fit the deal," Atticus smiled. "That and Cherry suggested that my family should adopt you."

"Cherry suggested that?" Darla sounded surprised of Cherry's good nature. "I thought she hated everything and everybody..."

"It really was her suggestion, but I had hoped that she would suggest that." Atticus said.

"I never knew she had a heart..." Darla said. "I thought she probably kept in a jar or something."

Jessica quietly snickered to that. "Sorry..." she then said apologietically since Cherry was her brother's best friend and all.

Darla then remembered what Atticus hoped for.

Atticus hugged his little sister. "You're my little sister, blood or not, you are my family and that's all that matters."

Darla smiled back. "And you are my big brother."

This was truly a brother and sister moment. Jessica was kind of left out, but she did not care, she knew how special the moment was between the two of them, so she let them have it.

Patch then saw a dog come out from a hole who had a Pound Puppy tag. He looked to his family, then rushed to the dog. "Hello, there."

"Guess which Dalmatian puppy and his owner along with special guests of their choice have been invited to an exhibit?" The dog asked.

"I'm sorry?" Patch asked with a smile. "What's that?"

"You heard me." The dog said.

"Hm..." Patch smirked. "What, where, when, and why?"

The dog began to tell him everything he heard from another dog who heard from a bird.

"Hm... So I see..." Patch smirked. "And I'm invited."

"Oh, of course," the dog smiled. "Everybody knows about Lucky of the Pound Puppies's adopted son Patch!"

Patch looked touched, he thought of Lucky as a father figure, but now folks were calling him an adopted son. "Well, what can I say?" he then smiled sheepishly, putting one paw to his chest with a charming smile.

"Anyway, I hope you and your owner will be back home soon." The dog said.

"I'm sure we will." Patch promised with a salute. "Remember..."

"'Once a Pound Puppy, Always a Pound Puppy'." Patch and the dog recited together.

Patch sighed with a chuckle. "Good times... I can't wait to tell my own pups someday."

"I'm sure you will have your own pups." The dog smiled.

"Yeah..." Patch smiled dreamily as he thought of someone at home to help him out with that once they would get older of course.

"I'll leave ya to your family, talk to you later!" the dog said before taking his leave.

"Wait!" Patch called. "I don't even know your name!"

The dog then disappeared.

Patch sighed. "Farewell, dear friend..." he said with a small smile, then went back to his family.

"So, Darla, did you enjoy your Hollywood vacation?" Patrick asked.

"Yes..." Darla smiled serenely then. "I'm so glad I can come here without any problems in the future."

"Who knows?" Emily smiled back. "Maybe someday you'll come here with your children."

"Yeah." Jessica smiled.

Darla smiled as she hugged her family once again, once everything was settled, the Fudo family went to bed and Darla could peacefully dream once again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> song belongs to Lady and the Tramp II: Scamp's Adventure


	12. Chapter 12

*Over twenty years into the future...*

Darla was all grown up and holding her little girl's hand as they were traveling into Hollywood together.

"Hey, Mommy, what's that?" the little girl pointed to the Chinese theater with the wet and dried cement of celebrities in the past, present, and future.

"Hey, I remember this," Darla smiled as she knelt down with her daughter to take a look, then saw her name in one stone that read 'My Time Has Come- Darla Dimple'. "This was from the premiere of my final movie when I was about your age."

"You mean this is where you first started out as a movie star, Mommy?" The little girl asked.

"Oh, yes," Darla smiled. "I thought I was happy being adored by millions of people, but they all could never give me the one thing I desired the most in my life: A warm and loving family..." she then leaned down and hugged her daughter. "I love you, sweetie."

"I love you too, Mommy." the little girl hugged her mother back.

This was truly a happy moment no one would want to forget. It may had only been a dream, but it was a wonderful one.

In a corner, Cherry was watching Darla embrace her dream daughter and had a small smirk since her work here was done. She then saw another door and where it had the symbol of an eye on the middle it and saw Atticus's name on top of it. "Eh, what the heck?" she shrugged, then decided to go to Atticus's door and opened it before flinching from the bright light to take her into Atticus's subconscious.

She saw monsters that the Mystery Inc unmasked, but only they were real and this wasn't a video game.

"What is going on here?" Cherry muttered. "Must be one of his visions..." she then guessed as she explored the dream. She was encountered by the Pterodactyl ghost.

The ghost screeched and flapped its wings above her, not catching her.

"Okay, I think this is what foreshadowing means..." Cherry said to herself. She then heard the evil laughter of an unfamiliar masked villain.

"Who is that...?" Cherry narrowed her eyes, wondering who that was, it sounded mysterious, yet, only slightly familiar.

She looked to see an unfamiliar masked villain.

"MYSTERY INCORPORATED MUST PAY!" the villain demanded.

"If this is Scrappy and Annette again, I'm gonna be very upset..." Cherry said in a warning voice.

Mally then pulled Cherry out of the vision. "I assure you it isn't either of those pups." she told her granddaughter. 

"Grandma!" Cherry gasped in shock.

"I had a feeling you would go into one of his visions." Mally said.

"Well, it's hard to distinguish the two sometimes..." Cherry shrugged.

"Anyway, be careful when entering a vision." Mally warned.

"Yes, ma'am..." Cherry replied respectively. "Guess curiosity killed my inner cat."

Mally hid a small smirk from that, but shook her head and returned focus. "Terrible things could happen."

"That doesn't sound like such a big deal..." Cherry shrugged.

Mally zapped her finger to make Drell appear. "Drell, could you...?"

"Oh, sure..." Drell nodded, he then cleared his throat. "Terrible..." he said in a normal tone at first. "Terrible..." he then added with a slight echo, then put his finger up before making his voice very loud. "TERRIBLE!!!" 

Cherry covered her ears as that was a bit too loud for her.

"Thank you." Mally then sent him away, she had him over to emphasize her point so Cherry would know better next time.

"Okay, okay, I get it..." Cherry groaned.

"That's a good dear..." Mally hugged her granddaughter. "Oh, it feels so great to hold you in my arms again..."

"Feels great to be held..." Cherry replied softly as a tear was coming down her cheek from hugging her long-lost grandmother she believed had been dead for a long while now.


	13. Chapter 13

The next morning, the Fudo family was getting ready.

Jessica gently shook Darla awake. "Wake up, sweetie..." she called quietly.

Darla stopped lightly snoring and then sat up in her bed, yawning and stretching, smacking her lips. "What time is it...?" she asked as she rubbed her still shut eyes.

"We're getting ready to leave." Patch said.

"Already?" Darla pouted.

"Sorry, dear, but all things must come to an end eventually." Jessica gently patted her on the head.

"Well... Okay..." Darla hopped out of the bed, going to join them in helping getting ready to go home. 

Atticus found an envelope, but jumped slightly since Drell's voice yelled through it. 'ATTICUS FUDO, REPORT TO MY HOME AS SOON AS POSSIBLE!"

"Looks like someone needs me." Atticus said.

"Do you have to go right away?" Emily asked.

"I'll go after we get home, it doesn't say immediately, so I don't have to go right quick." Atticus replied.

"Let's hope you're not too exhausted by then." Patrick said.

"I should be fine," Atticus smiled. "The ride home is a lot quicker than the ride away from home."

"That's true." Jessica agreed.

"I'll be right there, I just wanna say goodbye, I'll meet you all in the car." Darla said before rushing off to meet her new animal friends.

"We'll see you in the car." Atticus said.

Darla nodded and rushed off. The family decided to take this time to pack up Darla's things for her since she would be gone.

Darla went over to Pinky's Diner and poked her head in and smiled as the animals were together, Pudge was even there and had a special guest with him. It was a female penguin that must have been his girlfriend.

Darla smiled, then walked into the diner. "Morning, everybody."

The animals looked and smiled to her. "Darla!"

Darla giggled. "Um... Yes... Uh, I just wanted to let you all know something," she revealed. "I'm leaving to go back home today."

"But Miss Dimp--Darla..." TW spoke up. "Isn't this your home?"

"No, my home is with Mama Emily, Daddy Patrick, and my new big brother and big sister, I belong there and not here." Darla replied.

"We understand." Tillie said.

"Thank you all so much for helping me see the light." Darla gave all of the animals a hug, then looked over to Pudge who looked very shocked, scared, and confused to see one of his greatest enemies being friendly.

"It's okay, Pudge." Danny promised.

"Yeah, I'm good now, see?" Darla beamed.

"I guess..." Pudge rubbed his flippers together. 

"And who do we have here?" Darla looked to the young female penguin.

"Oh, this is my girlfriend." Pudge introduced.

"Hello, it's nice to meet you." Darla extended her right hand over to the young female penguin.

"It's nice to meet you too." The female penguin smiled.

"What's your name, huh?" Darla asked.

"I'm Glacia," the female penguin gave her name. "I live back home with my mama, papa, and Uncle Rocko."

"Uncle Rocko, huh?" Darla repeated then.

"Yeah, he's a rockhopper," Glacia explained. "He's my papa's best friend, even though he can be grumpy sometimes."

"Wow." Darla said.

"They had a big adventure together, I wasn't there though, I wasn't born 'cuz Papa had to travel the world to get a pebble to give to Mama." Glacia said then.

"A pebble?" Darla asked, curiously.

"Yes, you see, when penguins like each other, the male gives a pebble to the female like an engagement ring that you humans give to each other." Pudge explained.

"Oh, well, that sounds adorable." Darla smiled.

"It was truly romantic of how Papa told it." Glacia smiled back.

"I'll have to hear the story sometime, but I need to go now..." Darla reminded.

"Of course, hope to see you again real soon, Darla." Glacia said.

"Much later." Darla nodded, then took her leave.

Cranston sighed. "Uh, Darla, wait!"

Darla turned to the goat.

"Erm... I'm sorry I misjudged you..." Cranston sincerely apologized. "It was wrong of me."

"It's okay, Cranston." Darla smiled.

Cranston actually gave Darla a hug. "Erm... You be good for Atticus now and take care of yourself, ya hear?"

"Yes, Cranston..." Darla nodded in the hug, then let go and gave the old goat a kiss on the cheek and walked off. "Goodbye, everybody!"

The others said their goodbyes as Darla went to where she believed was her real home: With the Fudos. After Patrick, Emily, Atticus, Darla, Jessica, and Patch got everything packed, they were all ready to go back home. They saddled up and traveled down the road. Darla looked out to see the Hollywood logo in the mountains and waved to it, she promised to visit again one day when she would get older.

After Atticus settled back in his room and came home with everything ready for him, he remembered his appointment with Drell and came into the Supernatural Realm, but ended up in what looked like a tropical beach sunset and a Limbo stick and calypso music playing. 

"Uhh...?" Atticus looked around.

Skippy poked his head out through the door like he anticipated Atticus's arrival.

"Um, Skippy, what's going on?" Atticus asked.

Skippy gestured to the Limbo stick and then mimed Limbo gestures to explain to him.

"Oh, I'm in Limbo..." Atticus guessed.

Skippy smiled and nodded.

"Uh, is Drell around?" Atticus asked. "I'm supposed to meet him."

Skippy walked into the door, but he held out his arm and moved his finger up to gesture for Atticus to come inside. Atticus caught on to this quickly as he went inside. The music stopped.

Drell was sitting on his couch with his legs folded over top of each other and he had his arms spread across the top of the couch.

Atticus came in. "You wanted to see me, sir?"

"Have a seat." Drell gestured to the chair across from the couch he was sitting on.

Atticus then sat in the seat, feeling a little confused why he was called there.

Drell then put his hands together and rested his chin between his fingers. "I bet you're wondering why you're here."

Atticus nodded. "Y-Yes, sir."

Drell smirked. "Penelope needs some of your attention... She's been misbehaving again."

"What did she do this time?" Atticus groaned.

"I told her specifically and numerous times to NEVER use the crystal ball for long-distance calls..." Drell folded his arms. "She's been calling that mermaid pen pal of hers and it is VERY expensive, especially in underwater lands."

"So, let me guess, I'm going to be kind of like her punishment, right?" Atticus asked.

"Yes, and you can deal with her however you want, I'm leaving you in charge of that until I get back on my feet." Drell replied.

"You got it." Atticus said.

"I have a sneaking suspicion that Penelope is acting up more than usual because I'm rarely around..." Drell shrugged with a small smirk.

"Why do you say that?" Atticus asked.

"When my mother was head of the council in her time, I kinda took advantage of it..." Drell chuckled sheepishly. "I thought I could get away with anything I wanted 'cuz I was Maroot Batsworth's son... I was made fun of for a little while though since my mother never had a daughter and she gave the title to me after she retired."

"Good to know." Atticus said.

Drell nodded.

"Wait, why would they make fun of you?" Atticus asked.

"Uh, Head of the Witches Council is normally a female, but since my mother had me and I was an only child, she had no other option..." Drell chuckled. "I remember she used to pray for me to get married and have a daughter before I knew about Penelope's existence."

"Wow." Atticus said.

"I'm sure she'll listen to you..." Drell folded his arms. "Penny's been VERY sneaky lately and kind of mischievous... I mean, I'm surprised she doesn't bring that mortal boy she likes into the other realm and try to hide him behind my back."

"Oh, come on, she'd never do that." Atticus said.

"It wouldn't surprise me..." Drell shrugged. "Skippy always used to find stray mortals and try to bring them home with him to become his pets."

"Yikes." Atticus said.

"Yeah, mortals will enter in Skippy's care but they will NEVER leave..." Drell said in a haunting tone of voice. "Now..." he then said normally. "I'm just curious, if you were to punish Penelope, what sort of things would you do?"

"Turn her into a mouse or possibly find a way to take away her powers for an entire month." Atticus said.

"Hm..." Drell smirked. "That's actually pretty impressive... Anyway, I'll call you when I need you... But pleasure doing business with ya..." he then stood up and held out his right hand.

Atticus shook his hand back. "Thank you, sir."

"Oh, I think you might be what I'm looking for..." Drell approved.

"Well, I'm happy to have helped you, sir." Atticus smiled.

"Indeed..." Drell nodded.

"Uh, where is Penelope now anyway?" Atticus asked.

"I told Zelda to talk with her about the consequences of her actions..." Drell smirked. "Penny's probably whimpering with forgiveness and hunger by now..."

"I believe you would be correct." Atticus smirked.

"You can go, I'll handle her for now," Drell said to Atticus. "Hope you had fun with your family."

"Oh, yes, sir..." Atticus nodded. "I'll talk to you later."

Drell nodded back, he then transported away while Atticus went back home.

"What do you like better for your father, Penelope?" Hilda asked as she wore a blue dress with pink flowers on it. "The teal or the aqua?"

Penelope banged her head against the table. "The one you're wearing, the teal..." she mumbled out in total boredom.

"This is aqua, dear." Zelda told her.

"This is torture..." Penelope moaned.

"This is my favorite punishment ever!" Hilda cheered in victory.

Drell appeared next to his wife, agreeing.

"GAH! Don't look at me, this is supposed to be a surprise!" Hilda giggled and ran off out of the kitchen, passing Salem on the couch who was watching his stories, his eyes glued to the TV that he didn't even notice or had time to make a smart remark as usual.

"Hello, Penelope." Drell greeted.

Penelope slowly looked up, looking like a zombie. "Help.... Me..." she mouthed to her father, feeling like she had been aggressively tormented.

"Hmm... I don't know." Drell smiled.

"Please..." Penelope begged. "I'll do anything..."

"How was she?" Drell asked Zelda.

"She's going to do something similar to what my students are currently doing," Zelda firmly folded her arms. "She's going to write a ten page essay BY HAND about the difference of right and wrong when listening to her father."

"Ten pages!?" Penelope shrieked.

"Okay, I think she's learned her lesson for now." Drell said while clearing his ear.

"Thank you..." Penelope breathed in relief, then wobbily got out of the chair and seemed to stumble a little.

"Jeez, Zelda, what'd you do to her?" Drell laughed.

"I'm a college professor, remember?" Zelda folded her arms with a smirk. "My lectures don't stop until I decide they stop!"

"Ohh, so that's how you get respect from your students." Drell said.

"Well, of course..." Zelda smiled, proud of herself.

"Luckily I'm not a college student..." Penelope mumbled to herself.

Zelda looked to Penelope. "I mean it, young lady, I want a hand-written essay and don't even THINK about using magic!" she then scolded. "I count that as plagiarism and that's a big no no, especially in the college world. I trust it to be completed and done by the next time we have a family get together now since we're family."

"What're you talking about?" Penelope replied. "My dad married your sister..."

"Yes, and that makes me your step-aunt," Zelda firmly replied, then frowned. "Golly, that makes me sound evil..."

"You said it, not me." Penelope said like a smart aleck.

"Don't get started." Drell warned.

"Yes, sir..." Penelope said then.

"Good..." Drell put his arm around her. "Now, let's get you home so you can fill out an essay for your Aunt Zelda, huh?"

"Great..." Penelope groaned. "Just great..."

Drell laughed and walked off with her. "See ya later, Hilda!"

"See ya, Drelly!" Hilda called back.

'At least I don't have to be watched over by Atticus now.' Penelope thought to herself.


	14. Chapter 14

Drell sent Penelope straight to her home and he flopped against his bed, which weighed it down slightly.

Darla was very proud of herself, she looked at the trunk that she kept in her basement and looked at the older clothes she had and decided that they needed better homes, so she collected them and piled them in a box in the Fudo garage for an upcoming sale if there would be any.

"Hey, sis." Jessica smiled.

"Hey," Darla looked back with a smile.

"Whatcha up to?" Jessica asked.

"Oh, I just thought some of these old clothes of mine could be better off somewhere else," Darla suggested. "Start a brand new chapter in my life."

"That's very mature of you, little sis." Jessica smiled.

"Yeah..." Darla smiled, feeling proud of herself. "I think it's officially start the first day of the rest of my life."

"I agree." Jessica smiled.

Darla then took out the really and obviously valuable things to keep. She took out her teddy bear and the photograph of her biological family. Every time she looked at the photo, she just needed to hug it.

"You gonna be okay?" Jessica asked.

Darla took a deep breath. "I'm okay..." she said softly, she actually did not cry this time, but she still deeply missed her birth parents.

"I'm always here if you ever need me." Jessica said.

Darla nodded. "Thank you, Jessie."

Jessica ruffled up Darla's hair and walked off to do her own thing. Darla looked around, and closed the one box with her older clothes for now and decided to do the same.

Meanwhile, Atticus and Patrick began to make enough room for them to rough house in the living room.

Amber fanned her face, slightly panting as she felt very hot today in the backyard. "Man... I know people hate winter, but I wish I could have some snow just for one day..." She then saw Atticus and Patrick in the living room next door and where to her surprise, Atticus began to wrestle with his father.

She did a double take and looked away, mysteriously and curiously. What was going on in the Fudo house? She then sighed as she was having heat frustration and started to miss the joys of a cold winter's day, such as snowball fights, building snowman, and sledding through the white and fluffy abundance that children found joy out of and adults found annoyance from. However, as she stared up at the sky, thinking of snow, it seemed as though somehow, her wishes had been granted. 

"Today is really weird..." Amber said to herself. 

Patch watched Atticus and Patrick, acting like a referee. Atticus was now in a headlock by his own father and was now being attacked by a plow-driver. Emily decided to talk on the phone in the backyard with one of her friends since Atticus and Patrick were busy in the house. The plow-driver made the house shake due to the impact.

"Oh, don't worry about that, there hasn't been an earthquake in this area in decades..." Emily said to her friend who obviously heard or felt the shake. "Now, where were we?"

Atticus and Patrick had the most fun they ever had in their lives together, especially now with Patrick as strong as his own son.

"Maybe your children will be as strong as you one day." Patrick smiled to his only son.

"Yeah." Atticus smiled before he began to try to get himself free.

Patrick laughed, he then let go of Atticus and looked out the window and did a double take.

"You all right, Dad?" Atticus asked.

"Yeah, but... Is it my imagination or is it snowing outside...?" Patrick asked. "I thought winter was over..."

"Snowing?" Atticus asked, confused.

Everybody looked to see it was snowing outside. Amber was relieved and surprised, but she laughed as she embraced the snow as she stood in her yard with overjoy.

"Where did this snow come from?" Atticus asked.

"Amber...?" Darla came to her best friend's house. "Um... Do you see what I see?"

"Uh-huh..." Amber laughed. "I just wanted to cool off and then this snow came from nowhere!"

"Wait, you wanted to cool off and this snow appeared?" Atticus asked after coming outside. "I wonder... Amber, point one of your hands over to your right."

Darla glanced to her big brother, but she saw that look in his eye and let him work.

"Which one?" Amber asked.

"Either one..." Atticus shrugged. "Uh, how about the hand you write with?"

"Hmm... My right hand." Amber said.

"Okay..." Atticus took her right hand gently, then looked at the palm, there was no star. "No, you're not a witch... You remind me of a book I once read though about The Snow Queen... Amber, do you know any of your ancestry?"

"I know that I have very distant relatives from Europe," Amber replied. "One of them was from Russia biologically, the Grand Duchess Anastasia who was the Empress's granddaughter and her only living relative after Rasputin killed the others... Plus, I have ancestors from a land called Aredendale."

"Cool, alright, so then focus on making a snowman on your right hand, but without actually making it by hand." Atticus said.

Amber slowly shut her eyes and concentrated as she let her right hand do as Atticus instructed to prove his theory and where he was correct as a snowman was built as if by magic.

"A snowman..." Darla cooed.

Amber came behind the snowman and made the twig arms dance as she made a goofy cartoonish voice. "Hi, Darla, I'm Olaf!"

"Hello, Olaf, it's nice to meet you." Darla giggled.

"Olaf?" Atticus asked curiously.

"Yeah, I like that name..." Amber smiled as she had fun with Darla.

"Uh, enjoy your snow day, girls..." Atticus chuckled, then went back inside the house. 

"Why is it snowing?!" Emily flailed out. "Winter's over!"

"It's because Amber has powers of winter." Atticus told his mother.

Emily looked to him. "Do you suppose Amber could be a descendant of Queen Elsa and Anna?"

Atticus looked to his mother. "It actually reminds me of The Snow Queen, I read that book at the orphanage once... I think I still have it, since I liked reading it so much, the caretaker let me keep it when Cinderella's father adopted me and Cherry."

"That story is true," Emily said. "The Snow Queen is based off the two sisters of Ardendale, one was a pure mortal and the other had the powers of winter who was ironically born during the summer."

"Wow." Atticus smiled.

"It truly happened..." Emily smiled.

"How do you know about it?" Atticus asked, curiously.

"My father told us about it, he witnessed it himself." Emily explained.

"Cool, maybe we should go and witness it ourselves." Atticus smiled.

"Maybe..." Emily shrugged.

"Mom, you know we can do that," Atticus said. "You let us do it to visit Aunt Athena."

Emily sighed, remembering that. "I know..."

"Let's see if you can make snow pillars while I start jumping." Darla suggested.

"I'll try..." Amber giggled.

Darla nodded. "Oh, hang on a sec, we better get our coats."

"Yeah..." Amber agreed once she saw goosebumps on her best friend's arms.

The two little girls quickly ran inside, then came out in their winter coats with scarves, gloves, and boots. 

"Okay, on your mark, get set.... GO!" Amber said as she made snow pillars which had Darla jump as they agreed upon, having a lot of fun with their random snow day.

And where Darla started to jump higher and faster. Both girls laughed as they were having the best time they ever had in the times they had known each other from when Darla was the new girl in school and Amber was kind enough to be her friend. But Amber soon began to have trouble keeping up with Darla as she continued to jump.

"Slow down!" Amber cried.

"Keep up with me!" Darla giggled.

Amber tried her best to keep up with Darla as she seemed to go much quicker than anticipated, but then, Amber tripped and fell backwards. Darla kept going. Amber accidentally let a shot get out and it struck Darla on the cheek. Darla yelped and was instantly frozen and fell into the slushy snow pile.

"DARLA!" Amber gasped in fear and worry for her best friend.

Atticus overheard Amber's cry and ran back outside to find out what was going on. Amber knelt down beside Darla and tried to wake up her best friend.

"What happened?" Atticus asked.

"I-I'm not sure..." Amber replied. "We were playing, and then... She just..."

Darla was frozen and couldn't seem to wake up.

"W-What do we do?" Amber asked.

"I'm sure she's fine..." Atticus tried to keep calm, after all, whoever was with a child that panicked often led the child to freak out.

"But she's frozen!" Amber panicked.

"Uhh..." Atticus wasn't sure what to do. "Umm... MOM!!!"

"Yes, dear?" Emily asked, coming out before seeing Darla frozen. "Oh, dear....!"

"I didn't mean to... I just... I don't know why or how it happened..." Amber felt guilty.

"We need to go back in time and find out how to unfreeze her." Emily said.

"Isn't time travel kinda dangerous?" Amber asked.

"Don't worry, we time traveled before, Mom knows how to, she did it so we could meet her sister." Atticus reassured.

"I'll be right back..." Emily said, she then found a blanket and wrapped Darla in it to keep her warm for now and rushed into the house.

Will they be able to find a to unfreeze Darla in the past or will she be frozen forever?

To Be Continued...


End file.
